---
title: "Boston Globe finds quality fell as out-of-state chains took over Massachusetts nursing homes"
description: "Nine companies grew from 12 to 61 facilities since 2019, and eight saw their ratings decline on average"
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-09-29T09:00:00Z
modified: 2026-09-29T22:05:35Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/boston-globe-finds-quality-fell-as-out-of-state-chains-took--16cf47
language: en
tags: ["health", "nursing-homes", "regulation", "elderly", "corruption", "us"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Boston Globe finds quality fell as out-of-state chains took over Massachusetts nursing homes

*Nine companies grew from 12 to 61 facilities since 2019, and eight saw their ratings decline on average*

By rews desk · September 29, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/boston-globe-finds-quality-fell-as-out-of-state-chains-took--16cf47

## In brief

- Nine companies, mostly from New York and New Jersey, now control nearly one in five Massachusetts nursing homes
- The nine owned 12 Massachusetts facilities in 2019 and now control 61
- Eight of the nine saw their Massachusetts homes’ ratings decline on average since entering the state
- RegalCare CEO Eli Mirlis controls 12 Massachusetts facilities, rated 1.7 of 5 stars
- Regulators have not denied any nursing-home license application since 2019, Goldstein said

Nine companies, mostly run by entrepreneurs from New York and New Jersey, have taken control of nearly one in five Massachusetts nursing homes since the pandemic, and their quality ratings have fallen on average, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team found in an investigation published Monday.

The nine companies, RegalCare, Azure Healthcare, Advinia Care, Vantage Care, Ephram Lahasky, Atlas Healthcare, Best Care Services, Stern Consultants and Alpha SNF, which closed in 2024, owned 12 Massachusetts facilities in 2019 and now control 61, the Globe reported. All had a limited presence in the state before the pandemic, and some had poor track records in other states.

Eight of the nine have seen their Massachusetts homes’ ratings decline on average since they began operating in the state, according to the Globe’s analysis. The ninth, Stern Consultants, operates homes that were below average to begin with and has not improved them. Ratings at Massachusetts nursing homes not owned by the group have slightly improved.

RegalCare chief executive Eli Mirlis of New Jersey owns or controls 12 Massachusetts facilities, part of an operation spanning at least 29 homes in five states, the Globe found. His Massachusetts homes rate 1.7 out of 5 possible stars from federal regulators, among the state’s lowest. At his Taunton facility, RegalCare spent about $530,000 less on nursing services in 2025 than the previous owners had, records show, while a real estate company Mirlis also owns charged the home rent of $522,000, more than four times the bill before he took over. The Globe said money was being directed to separate management, real estate and therapy companies he owns.

Massachusetts regulators have continued to approve the companies’ applications to buy more homes. Robbie Goldstein, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, acknowledged his department has not outright denied any application for a nursing home license since 2019.

Goldstein said the department had been hamstrung by a state law that did not explicitly give regulators authority to consider operators’ records in other states. A legal expert consulted by the Globe said nothing in the old law prevented that consideration. A law enacted two years ago grants regulators the power to review records nationally, but the health department has not yet implemented it. After the investigation was published, a department spokesperson said the state’s Public Health Council would vote on implementing the rules in October.

Families described unanswered call bells, residents left for hours in soiled diapers, medication errors and falls. “I was so angry, my whole body was shaking,” said a woman whose mother became ill after being put on two antidepressants rather than one at a RegalCare home.

> He was a very proud, dignified man. I just couldn’t understand how that was just not being honored.

Kathy Ciliberto said her 91-year-old father, who took pride in wearing L.L. Bean khakis and button-downs, was kept day after day in a hospital gown and diaper although he was not incontinent. The Public Health Council’s October vote on the new screening rules is the next scheduled step.