Insights
Mark Mattioli and Paula Sanders Examine Increased Government Scrutiny for Nursing Home Transactions for Law360
In the August 8, 2023 article, "Nursing Homes Must Prepare For Ownership Scrutiny," for Law360, Mark L. Mattioli and Paula G. Sanders examine increased scrutiny of nursing home transactions by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The authors note:
"SNFs undergoing changes of ownership in Pennsylvania can anticipate a heightened level of review and delays. The new transparency may make it easier to determine connections between various facilities that share services and that share a common ownership structure. Accordingly, given the new requirements, entities contemplating changes of ownership should be mindful of the following:
- Deal teams should anticipate delays in obtaining regulatory approval.
- Additional time may be needed to gather the required information as changes of ownership submissions with incomplete information will be likely be rejected or denied.
- Given the requirement for public notice and comment, new deals may be subjected to additional publicity and potential opposition.
- Approval of licensure changes will likely take longer given the need for the DOH to analyze substantially more information, including audited financials, than before.
- Even once the change in licensure has been approved, operators should expect significant delays in receiving their Medicare tie-in notices because of CMS' change in risk categorization for SNFs that now require on-site verification visits."