Revera, once one of Canada’s largest nursing home operators, is implementing plans to “transition” nursing home management across the country.
The company informed employees last week that three separate Canadian companies will take over the management of dozens of Revera nursing homes.
“Revera has made the decision to focus primarily on managing property/real estate and will no longer manage retirement home operations in Canada,” read an Aug. 2 notice sent to union representatives for Revera workers.
In total, information distributed to unions suggests that more than 80 nursing homes are part of the proposed transfer, with more than half that number in Ontario. The rest are in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC
Facilities are in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, and other cities.
The changes, which are expected to happen in the coming months, are “subject to customary regulatory approvals, including standard due diligence reviews and approvals from health authorities,” the company told Breaking:.
“Revera is shifting its focus to senior real estate ownership and will step down from operating management of retirement homes,” the statement said. He said Revera “will retain ownership of a number of retirement properties.”
The company said there will be no changes to staffing at individual sites.
Revera is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a federal Crown corporation.
A spokesperson for the Alberta Provincial Employees Union, the union that represents Revera workers at various retirement homes in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, released a statement Tuesday.
“While AUPE looks at how outsourcing the day-to-day management of these full-service long-term care workplaces may affect our members, we will continue to make sure our frontline healthcare workers have the resources they need from the employer. to safely support residents and be treated with the respect they deserve,” the union said.
Montreal-based Cogir, which owns hundreds of apartments, rental condos and retirement homes, will assume management of more than 60 Revera properties. Revera already has an ownership interest at several of Cogir’s properties in Quebec.
Optima Living is scheduled to take over the management of some nursing homes in Alberta and BC, while Levante Living will manage a dozen properties in Ontario.
At nursing homes now planned for new management, services vary. Seniors pay to rent suites and some have more minimal supports geared toward independent living.
Some also offer more intensive assisted living or “memory care” with 24-hour services for people with dementia.
‘Public interest concerns’
Tamara Daly, a professor of health policy and equity at York University, said access to publicly funded care for older people remains a problem in Canada, leaving some with few options but paying for levels. higher care in nursing homes.
“They are treated like tenants living in apartment buildings receiving care, rather than people who have a variety of vulnerabilities who need a high level of care and support but cannot access it through our publicly funded system. “. Daly said.
“Despite the lessons of the pandemic, elder care remains a largely for-profit business in Canada, whether in the nursing home or nursing home sector.”
Thousands of vulnerable people in long-term care have died after COVID outbreaks at Canadian facilities, including nursing homes previously operated by Revera.
In Calgary, the McKenzie Towne Continuum of Care Center saw one of the first significant COVID outbreaks in Alberta when the pandemic struck in 2020, ending with 111 cases and 20 deaths. The facility was managed by Revera at the time, but is now operated by the AgeCare company.
People whose family members died of COVID in the former Revera long-term care homes filed proposed class action lawsuits in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
The retirement home switch comes after Revera announced a deal in 2022 with another large for-profit long-term care provider, Extendicare, which saw Extendicare take over operations at 56 of the nursing homes at long term for Revera in Ontario and Manitoba.
On August 1, extendicare announced that those transactions are complete. The company now manages 31 Revera-owned long-term care homes, and also acquired Revera’s 15 percent interest in a portfolio of 25 more long-term care homes.
The transactions caused more than 6,000 publicly funded long-term care beds to change hands.
Kevin Skerrett, a research adjunct professor at Carleton University’s Institute for Political Economy, said the changes at Revera raise questions about the future for both employees and people living in the households.
“I think there are very serious public interest concerns that have yet to be raised in terms of these private actors having the freedom to decide what they want to do with these facilities,” he said.
“I think as Canadians we also want to care about… what does it really mean for services being provided in the interior?”
