Below is my abstract for my summer Laidlaw Research experience.

As the nursing home industry continues to boom, reaching over $173.4 billion in 2026 in the United States, Medicaid and Medicare—public money—continue to flow overwhelmingly into nursing homes. However, public reimbursement does not necessarily explain why care conditions vary so drastically across facilities that serve many of the same Medicaid-heavy populations. To shed light on nursing home financing and care variation, this preliminary study examines a for-profit and a nonprofit nursing home organization in Minnesota. Prior research has already established differences in nursing home outcomes based on ownership and varying financial incentives. Through analyzing ownership structures and public financing records using CMS ownership data, corporate filings, IRS 990s, inspection reports, and interviews, this paper tracks the flow of capital through various nursing home organizations to understand how different ownership structures shape the financial resources available at the facility level. By comparing organizations that receive substantial public healthcare dollars, this study seeks to understand how ownership structure affects the resources available at the facility level and the transparency with which those funds are accounted for. To improve the nursing home system as a whole, we must also examine the ownership and financial structures that determine how public funds are accounted for.