Provider Magazine surveys top 40 nursing facility chains

Provider magazine's annual survey of the Top 40 nursing facility chains in the United States has found that while occupancy rates have gone up from an average of 89.4 percent in 1990 to 90.3 percent last year, total reported revenues have decreased. In 1990, reported revenues totaled $7.4 billion. Last year that figure fell to $6.9 billion. Part of the reason for the change may be the drop in the percentage of private pay residents, which fell an average of 3 percent over the last year. There was one new player in the Top 10 in 1991--VHA Long Term Care, which moved up from number 26 in 1990. Growth was reported among other Top 20 chains also, which garnered an increase in beds of nearly 12,000, to 345,142. The Forum Group jumped from number 35 in 1990 to 16 last year with an increase of more than 3,000 beds. Also of significance was a 50 percent increase in the number of companies going public, bringing the total of publicly held nursing facility corporations to 15. The new public players are Mediplex, Integrated Health Services, Inc., GranCare, Genesis Health Ventures, and Health and Retirement Corporation (HCR).