Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD) Understaffed Senior Living Centers
Between August 2016 and April 2020, Brookdale failed to disclose and made misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational, and legal profiles. Over the years, Brookdale repeatedly affirmed its operating efficiency based on proprietary software that determined daily staffing needs at its facilities. However, Brookdale underestimated the data inputs entered into the software in an effort to meet certain financial performance targets, which resulted in daily staffing at its facilities to come in below levels necessary to meet resident need. As a result, Brookdale failed to provide proper care and breached resident contracts. Residents have filed class actions against Brookdale for “chronically insufficient staffing” at its facilities that “routinely” failed to sufficiently service the needs of its residents, and intentionally underestimating data inputs to meet financial benchmarks. On April 30, 2020, the Nashville Business Journal reported on these class actions and exposed “lucrative bonus and incentive programs tied to meeting or exceeding Brookdale’s financial performance targets” to entice employees to “stay at or below Brookdale’s limits for staffing expenses.” On this news, Brookdale’s share price fell over 15% over two trading sessions to close at $3.12 per share.