When I first began doing long-term care litigation, I assumed one owner was responsible for the conduct of their nursing home and stood behind a facility.  I’ve since learned that this is not normally the case.

Typically, filing a lawsuit against a nursing home or assisted living facility requires significant corporate research.  The plaintiff may have to sue holding companies, limited liability corporations, real estate companies, corporate partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and other corporate entities just in order to hold the right person responsible.

We call this the corporate shell game.

Many nursing homes fragment their companies in order to avoid liability and hide assets.  These are the entities we trust to care for some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Fortunately, this practice is getting more difficult to pull off.  Obamacare has made it mandatory to disclose all entities that have an interest in a facility.  They can no longer hide behind various fake companies.

An interesting article in McKnight’s highlights this issue and recent fixes at both the federal and state level.  You can read the article by clicking here.