Mirroring last year’s lineup, 2014’s 
Top 50 Largest Nursing Facility Companies offers a panoply of services and specialty care, including 49 companies that offer dementia care, 39 with assisted living, and 40 with outpatient therapy. The number of companies that offer ventilator services jumped from 19 last year to 24 this year, and the provision of dialysis rose from 19 to 20 this year.
Not surprisingly, home care continues to be a popular business line, with 27 companies offering it this year—the same as last year. The growing business of hospice care continues to be popular among the leading long term and post-acute care providers, with 33 companies offering it.
Bariatric beds and services are offered by 30 of this year’s Top 50, down from 38 last year, but still up a bit from the 23 companies that offered such care in 2012. This is a sector to watch, as it has seen a steady rise for a number of years. Pharmacy services remain steady at 18, while 30 of this year’s 50 have independent living business lines.
Movement Among The Ranks
Kindred Healthcare’s repositioning plan landed the company at No. 8 in this year’s ranking, a slide of three slots from last year’s. Having sold multiple facilities that were outside of its “integrated care markets,” Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred is homing in on the home care and hospice sectors.
Signature HealthCARE, also based in Louisvile, is knocking on the Top 10’s door, moving up to 11 this year. That’s most likely due to its acquisition of Kindred facilities last year. The company was No. 15 last year.
Life Care Centers of America traded places this year with Golden Living in the No. 3 and 4 spots, respectively, while Genesis HealthCare, Kennett Square, Pa., and Toledo, Ohio-based HCR ManorCare hold steady at the No. 1 and 2 spots.
The total bed count for this year’s Top 50 companies accounts for nearly 8,000 fewer nursing beds than last year’s Top 50.
Looking Ahead
Adding rehabilitation suites and units continues to be a popular prospect for the Top 50 as they look ahead. Among the companies reporting such plans was No. 1, Genesis, which noted renovations and changes to its dining programs in its initiatives.
HCR ManorCare will focus on a “wide variety” of modifications related to the company’s short-term and post-acute patient population.
Consulate Health Care, ranked at No. 6 this year, will implement electronic health records, Wifi, and telemedicine initiatives in its communities, while No. 9, Good Sam, plans to remove nurse stations and add consistent assignment staffing as part of its effort to boost resident-centered care and decision making.
No. 11 Signature HealthCARE reports that the implementation of culture change initiatives is ongoing within the company, including Eden Alternative registration, as well as “removal of nursing stations and efforts to create more homelike environments.”
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2014's Top 40!