The Washington Post newspaper reported yesterday that the Carlyle Group will purchase Manor Care, a nursing-home operator, for $6.3 billion, the latest in a recent string of multibillion-dollar deals involving the DC private-equity giant.
Manor Care, which traces its roots to a single nursing home in Wheaton 48 years ago, has grown into one of the largest providers of long-term care and services in the country, with nearly 60,000 employees in more than 500 facilities under the Heartland, ManorCare Health Services and Arden Courts brands.
My take on this purchase is that Carlyle, whose principals reportedly include George Bush, Sr., James Baker and a host of other conservative republicans, has no clue about health care much less the nursing home industry. Carlyle is out to make money and it will make a lot! So don’t believe it when your nursing home administrator tells you that he cannot hire more nurses because the money is just not available.