Why the public records are hard to use
| Measure (CMS SNF Enrollments, data as of September 29, 2026) | Count |
|---|---|
| Medicare-enrolled nursing homes | 14,404 |
| Distinct legal operators enrolled for them (PECOS associate IDs) | 12,229 |
| Homes in a CMS affiliated group (chain) | 10,140 (70%) |
| CMS affiliated groups | 612 |
Nursing home ownership is usually split on purpose. One company holds the operating license, another owns the real estate, a third manages the home, and investors sit above them. The split serves financing, liability and reimbursement, so the disclosures can be complete and still not show who runs the home.
If your question is who actually operates the 40 homes in a target market, the raw data leaves you to join operator records, owner rows, chain groupings and state licenses yourself.
Homes change hands often
CMS also publishes every change of ownership filed for a Medicare nursing home, with the buyer, the seller and the effective date. The September 2026 release lists 5,340 sales effective from 2016 to May 2026. The busiest year was 2023, with 867; 2024 had 760. Recent months look quieter than they are, because sales are added as CMS processes the filings.
A home's operator from a year ago may not be its operator today, so check the date on any record you rely on.
Start with Medicare Care Compare
Search for the home on Medicare's Care Compare site. Its profile shows the legal business name of the operator, ownership information reported to CMS, and the home's ratings and inspection results.
Read the CMS ownership data
CMS publishes the owners of skilled nursing facilities as open data. Each row names an owner, its role (for example direct or indirect owner, or managing employee) and, where reported, the percentage owned. Owners can be companies or people, and one company often appears behind many homes.
CMS has expanded these disclosures, including flags for certain private equity and real estate investment owners. More disclosure helps, but it does not turn into a map of who controls the home without further work.
Find the chain
CMS also groups homes under affiliated entities, the chains or groups that share common ownership or control, and publishes measures for each group. Use the group named on the home's own enrollment: it is the quickest way to see everything an operator runs.
The licensee is not always the operator: Texas
In Texas, 798 of 1,160 nursing homes (69%) are enrolled in Medicare under a county hospital district or hospital authority, with a private company running each home day to day. A single district can hold dozens of homes run by different chains; West Wharton County Hospital District holds 101 homes across 8 CMS groups.
Rolling these homes up through the licensee credits every one of them to every chain the district works with. Tracing each home through the group on its own enrollment avoids that. Some groups also describe themselves as managers or brand licensors rather than owners, so check the operator's own description before calling it the owner.
Check the state
State health departments license nursing homes. The state license names the licensee, which is usually the operating company, and some states publish change-of-ownership filings.
Or look it up here
Every nursing home here has its operator and CMS group from CMS records, with the date each was last confirmed and a link to the group's other homes. Subscribers see the full record; the example pages show it free. Property, operating and management relationships stay separate rather than merged into one owner.
Questions
Why is the owner different from the name on the building?
Homes often operate under a local name through a separate company for each facility, which is in turn owned by a larger group.
Does the CMS data show private equity ownership?
CMS now flags some private equity and real estate investment owners, but coverage is uneven. Whether an owner is backed by private equity usually takes further research.
Why are so many Texas nursing homes enrolled under hospital districts?
Homes owned by a public hospital district can take part in the state's supplemental payment program for non-state government-owned homes. The district holds the license and a private company runs the home.
How current is the ownership data?
CMS updates its enrollment and ownership files monthly and its change of ownership file quarterly. The figures on this page are from the enrollment release of October 1, 2026 (data as of September 29) and the change of ownership release of September 1, 2026. Changes of ownership are also filed with the state. Check the date on each record.
How were these numbers counted?
Directly from the public CMS files, so anyone can reproduce them: operators are distinct PECOS associate IDs, groups are distinct affiliation entity IDs, and Texas homes are those with a Texas address. Hospital districts and authorities are enrolled organizations with either phrase in their legal name.