Senior Care Policy Brief: Genesis Healthcare’s Financial Collapse

• Genesis Healthcare, which operates 175 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities across 18 states, has filed for bankruptcy and obtained a court order halting wrongful death and injury lawsuits against its employees, shareholders, and staffing agencies.
  • Before its bankruptcy filing, Genesis faced over 200 malpractice and wrongful-death suits and was spending $8 million per month on litigation and settlements.
  • The company’s financial collapse has been linked to private equity ownership decisions that loaded it with debt and stripped away real estate assets.
  • U.S. Senators Warren, Blumenthal, and Welch and Representative Goodlander are “pushing for information related to Genesis’ private equity-caused bankruptcy and its apparent attempt to use the bankruptcy process to wipe away the company’s debts to victims and businesses by selling the company at a discount to insiders.”
  • Their query includes Joel Landau, managing partner of Genesis’ private equity owner. Landau’s Allure Group operates nursing homes in NY State. He was at the center of a nursing home real estate scandal in 2016.
  • Genesis holds an average rating of 2.3 stars overall, with particularly low scores in health inspections (2.3) and staffing (2.5) – a reflection of ongoing quality and oversight challenges across its network.

Genesis Healthcare chain details via CMS’s Care Compare.

• More than half of nurses (51%) have sought mental health support related to job stress, according to a new WellSky white paper highlighting the toll of burnout across healthcare. Staffing shortages were identified as the top stressor by 44% of respondents, followed by financial pressures (46%).
  • Without fair compensation and staffing reforms, caregiver stress will continue to erode workforce stability and care quality.
• Malpractice claims involving nurses in assisted living and long-term care settings have risen sharply, now accounting for 45% of all closed nursing claims over the past five years according to the latest Nurse Professional Liability Claim Report. Senior living and care environments represented 15% of claims, up from 11.2% in 2020. The most common causes included medication administration errors, inadequate monitoring and resident assessments, poor communication after changes in resident condition, and lapses in ensuring resident safety.
  • The report underscores that when care settings lack sufficient support, training, and oversight, nurses are more likely to face malpractice exposure.
  • The report calls for stronger risk management practices through documentation, effective communication, compliance with regulations, and active resident advocacy to reduce liability and improve safety in senior care settings.