Rural Wisconsin seniors press state officials for nursing home oversight changes

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin seniors organization is seeking changes to how the state oversees nursing homes, including who can operate them, what ownership information is available to the public and what safeguards are required before county-owned facilities can be sold.

Members of Small-Town and Rural Seniors (STARS) from Sauk, Walworth and Lincoln counties presented a series of requests during meetings with Wisconsin Department of Health Services officials and staff from state Sen. Kelda Roys' office Thursday, Nov. 12, in Madison.

STARS is a grassroots organizing project led by Wisconsin seniors and their allies. An initiative of the Campaign for Working Class Communities, the group focuses on health care, long-term care and other issues affecting older adults in rural communities.

STARS has organized in several Wisconsin counties, including Lincoln, Portage, Sauk, St. Croix and Walworth. Members hold regular statewide Zoom meetings and have organized locally in response to proposals to sell publicly owned nursing homes. In July, nearly 100 seniors attended a gubernatorial candidate forum organized by the group at Ho-Chunk Gaming in Wisconsin Dells.

Hans Breitsemoser, a STARS member from Lincoln County, said concerns about the privatization of publicly owned nursing homes helped bring members together. He said county-owned facilities also play an economic role in rural communities by providing local jobs.

"When you have a county-owned nursing home, the people that work in that nursing home probably live in that county, and those dollars that they make are spent in that county," Breitsemoser said.

In an Aug. 20 letter to DHS officials, STARS requested that nursing home ownership information removed from the state's public directory be restored by Sept. 1.

As of Nov. 13, the nursing home directory linked on the DHS website was dated Oct. 22 and did not include ownership information.

The August letter states that DHS officials attributed the removal to a transition to a new data system and directed people seeking ownership details to Medicare's Care Compare website.

Care Compare is a federal tool that allows the public to research individual nursing homes, including their ownership, staffing and quality ratings.

STARS argued that Care Compare makes it more difficult to examine ownership trends across Wisconsin, including how many facilities are publicly owned, operated by nonprofit organizations or owned by for-profit companies.

Judy Brey, a member of the STARS Wisconsin Leadership Table from Reedsburg, said families have relied on the state's ownership information when making long-term care decisions.

"We know how much we have been relying on it, and people across the state, to make decisions about where to place their loved ones," Brey said.

The group wants DHS to deny new nursing home licenses, including those involving changes in ownership, to operators already running facilities with one-star ratings under the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Five-Star Quality Rating System. The federal system rates nursing homes on a five-star scale using health inspections, staffing and quality measures. One star indicates quality much below average.

STARS also wants DHS to require an appraisal before any publicly owned nursing home can be sold.

In September 2024, the Sauk County Board approved a $5.1 million agreement to sell the Sauk County Health Care Center in Reedsburg to Aria Healthcare, a private nursing home operator. Aria withdrew from the deal in June 2025, and the facility remains county-owned and open.

Brey was among the plaintiffs who challenged the proposed sale in court. A circuit court dismissed the lawsuit in July 2025, and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal on Oct. 15, 2026.

According to Brey, the proposed sale raised questions among local advocates about whether the price reflected the facility's value.

Brey said obtaining information directly from DHS has been difficult. She described navigating multiple automated telephone menus without reaching anyone and said two calls were disconnected before she could speak to a staff member.

She previously had a DHS contact who helped her obtain nursing home licensing information but struggled to find someone else who could answer her questions after that employee changed positions.

"I felt like there was absolutely no way to be in touch with this very important agency in our state," she said.

The group wants DHS to establish a reliable telephone hotline for seniors and provide timely responses to information and public records requests without fees.

Tom Kriegl, a member of the STARS Wisconsin Leadership Table from Baraboo, said the discussions gave the group an opportunity to explain its concerns directly to state officials.

"I was encouraged, we had a good dialogue in both cases," Kriegl said.

Brey said a DHS representative offered to hold monthly discussions with STARS, using virtual meetings and occasional visits to communities around the state.

She also said the department indicated it would work on restoring nursing home ownership information to its website.

Members say they plan to continue meeting statewide, organizing in their communities and following up with state officials on their requests.

"Usually, you can't solve a big problem in one setting or one attempt," Kriegl said. "So continuing communication is normally a very good thing."