Edition 8 , Hey everyone, welcome to Shmooze #8
Ben Landa. We'd be lying if we weren't at least slightly in awe of the following sequence of events: donate $5 million to a Super PAC, get nominated as ambassador by Trump, watch the administration's own inspector general publish a $31.2 million overpayment finding against your facility one month later, and then sue the administration.
What's Inside This Edition
This month: A 68-year-old Boro Park kid who followed his wife to Denver, built one of Colorado's largest SNF operations, gave back 11 buildings during COVID, lost his wife in the same stretch, and still shows up every day - Jay Moskowitz sits down with the Shmooze for one of the most honest conversations we've had in eight editions.
Aetna paid $117 million for doing what everyone knows happens in Medicare Advantage - and we explain why the number that should bother you most isn't $117 million, it's the size of their compliance department. NYU published a report confirming everything you've been saying over cholent for years about private equity. Eighteen attorneys general want the staffing mandate back - but only for you. Not nonprofits. Not government facilities. Just you.
CMS found a new enforcement weapon and is not being shy about using it - your medical director's side gig at a hospice might be your problem now. Goldman Sachs put $65 million into a company monitoring Mrs. Goldstein's bathroom frequency and we have thoughts. Plus the RegalCare story everyone's been whispering about, the Genesis executives collecting bonuses on a sinking ship.
Welcome to Shmooze 8.
Deal Roundup
Steve Zicherman - who has spent years on the other side of the table helping SNF operators navigate deals, financings, and the general chaos of this industry - has apparently decided that watching other people buy nursing homes was getting old. Steve is closing on 7 homes in Florida, picked up from the portfolios of Nathan Freund and Abe Goldberger's Aspire. We look forward to his first survey.
Over in New England, RecoverCare - that's Rafi Treitel's operation - is either selling or partnering with Norman Rausman on 4 SNFs in New Hampshire. Details are still coming together on that one but the combination of those two names in the same sentence is worth watching.
MGM (Barry Jeremias) moved one in Iowa over to the Ensign machine. Ensign keeps eating. Nobody is surprised.
Eden picked up one from Divine in Wisconsin, continuing their quiet but steady accumulation in the Midwest.
And The Grand had a New York double-header - sold one to Excelsior and one to Efraim Steif.
One More Thing Before We Get Into the Issue
The market is the hottest it's been in years. Prices are at record highs. Institutional money is flooding in. Somehow the Shmooze got circulated around goyish white collar firms. And the Shmooze has been hearing from some very large REITs who are now looking at senior care real estate and seeing exactly what the demographics tell them to see: a long runway, constrained supply, and aging baby boomers who aren't getting any younger.
They want in. And they're willing to pay top dollar to get there. Which means if you've been thinking about getting out, cashing out, or just figuring out what your buildings are actually worth in this market - this is not a bad time to be having that conversation. If you want an intro to these REITs let me know.