FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Contact: Emily Dong | emily.dong@seiuhcpa.org | (267) 761-1502
New report connects predatory business model used by nursing home operators to decline in care, rise in bankruptcies and closures
Traveling to Harrisburg, dozens of nursing home workers took the report to legislators, calling for support for legislation on funding with accountability that would close regulatory and financial weaknesses exploited by the model
STATEWIDE, Pa. – As Pennsylvania battles nursing home bankruptcies, sales, and closures, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth’s largest union of nursing home workers, released a report Tuesday exposing the predatory business model nursing home operators use to extract wealth from public funds at the expense of care and staffing. Close to 70 nursing home workers from across the state took the report to legislators in Harrisburg on Tuesday, advocating for funding with accountability.
Using hundreds of inspection reports, cost reports, and state and federal filings from 2021 through early 2026 as well as over 700 survey responses from Pennsylvania nursing home workers, the report shows how this model exploits regulatory and financial weaknesses in the current system. The model creates a care-cutting cycle: extract public dollars, rack up excessive debt, use the bankruptcy process to close facilities, shed debts to the state, and re-enter the market.
The report focuses on the twenty consistently low-quality facilities as a case study: thirteen facilities are affiliated with Ephram “Mordy” Lahasky, while the remaining seven facilities analyzed are affiliated with Shai Berdugo and Efraim Klein, through Century Healthcare.
Key, select findings include:
- Despite two convictions of healthcare fraud and wage theft by federal courts, Lahasky continues to be one of the largest operators in Pennsylvania through concealing his ownership stakes behind less well-known investors. While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lists 79 facilities affiliated with Lahasky nationally, Lahasky in court claimed to be tied to over 300 nursing homes and similar facilities.
- After Century purchased seven facilities from Guardian Healthcare in 2023, the facilities reported $17 million in administrative and overhead costs in 2024 alone, with little ability to discern what the costs were for. Forest Hills saw administrative costs increase by 248% from 2021 to 2024, consuming close to a quarter of total facility expenses. The sharp surge in administrative spending produced no corresponding documented improvements in quality care, staffing ratios, or resident outcomes. In fact, the seven facilities declined from an average of 2.2 CMS Star Rating in the two years before Century took over to an average 1.4 stars in the two years after.
- Highlands Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, a Century-owned facility, receives a special $11 million annual earmark from the Commonwealth, yet for years reported the same amount in net income, meaning the earmark flowed directly to profit – not care.
Full report is available here.
“It’s infuriating. While owners expand their businesses to other states and have mansions, I’m buying supplies for residents out of my own paycheck and struggling to afford my own health insurance,” said Stephanie, a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home in northwestern Pennsylvania for over 25 years. She met with multiple of her elected leaders on Tuesday to call for funding with accountability. “It’s not fair to the residents who need and deserve quality, compassionate care. Workers rush from room to room because there’s not enough staffing, but then we’re told there’s not enough money to invest in recruitment and retention. This report is undeniable evidence that we need to do something about this model now.”
Pennsylvania’s combination of low reimbursement rates and weak accountability creates volatile conditions for nursing homes. Since 2017, a staggering one in three nursing homes in Pennsylvania have been sold. Increased funding is necessary to retain and recruit a skilled workforce. When asked what the greatest barrier to providing high quality care was, 60% of surveyed Pennsylvania nursing home workers said a lack of proper staffing. Pennsylvania’s Medicaid reimbursement rate trails all of its neighboring states.
The report’s recommendations emphasize the need for funding with accountability. In the Tuesday meetings, workers called on legislators to floor the Budget Adjustment Factor (BAF) and sign onto the co-sponsorship memo Rep. Dan Frankel released last week outlining the forthcoming Nursing Home Ownership Accountability Act. The provisions outlined in Rep. Frankel’s cosponsorship memo for the Nursing Home Ownership Accountability Act would move Pennsylvania closer to states like Virginia pursuing strong operator reforms. In February, Pennsylvania nursing home workers took action and called on Senator McCormick to vote no on an ambassadorship for scandal-plagued nursing home owner Ben Landa.
“When the state allows owners to continue to use this model without regulations that can deter these practices, they are making it harder for responsible owners to operate in our Commonwealth. They are making it extremely hard to improve resident care and staffing in this ecosystem,” said Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania. “Nursing home workers have worked hard to build a labor-industry partnership with operators like Saber and raise standards together. It’s models like this that should be receiving funding to transform this critical care.”
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SEIU Healthcare PA is the state’s largest and fastest-growing union of nurses and healthcare workers, uniting tens of thousands of professional and technical employees, direct care workers, and service employees in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home- and community-based services, and state facilities across the Commonwealth. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania members are committed to improving the lives of healthcare workers and ensuring quality care and healthy communities for all Pennsylvanians.