A bunch of finance guys from Chicago now own the sixteen South Dakota nursing homes that remain open from the Skyline Healthcare debacle. Cascade Capital Group has an operating arm, Legacy Healthcare, which is busy hiring nurses and CNAs and other staff in Groton, Clark, Redfield, and elsewhere to provide the necessary services, but Cascade’s marketing-speak leaves me with the impression that job one is making money for investors:
“A combination of factors contributed to the appeal of this portfolio, including the geographic concentration of the facilities in a unique market, the advancement opportunities both clinical and technological, and the upside potential through untapped revenue sources and expanded service lines,” explained Yitzy Rosenblum, Cascade’s EVP of Acquisitions. “Acquiring this portfolio at a good value will allow the Legacy team to commit the necessary capital to help enhance these facilities through capital improvements and innovative programming” [Cascade Capital Group, press release, 2019.07.01].
Notice EVPAcq Rosenblum doesn’t mention human beings. Nor does he mention any of the specific functions his newly acquired facilities carry out. Absent the single word clinical, he could be talking about ethanol plants or auto service centers. But hey, these sixteen nursing homes were in receivership and could have been lost completely, so I guess being bought by Chicago money guys who seem far removed from the actual human service being provided is better than a kick in the pants.
Cascade/Legacy’s South Dakota properties are being branded “Avantara”:
“We’re managing the facilities, Cascade is the landlord,” said Connie Ortega, vice president of operations for Legacy Healthcare. “It’s a joint interest.”
The names of each of the facilities has been changed to reflect the new ownership. Avantara is a brand within Legacy that denotes style or type of care, Ortega said [Erin Ballard, “Legacy healthcare Takes Control of SD Nursing Homes in Receivership,” AAN via Insurance News Net, 2019.07.14].
I quibble with Ballard’s use of the verb denote. To denote means to have a direct meaning, a dictionary definition. In English class, we use denote in contrast to connote, which means to carry meanings beyond the primary, literal, dictionary definition. Avantara denotes nothing: it has no dictionary definition. To denote, something must be a word. Avantara is murglesplurg, inherently meaningless sounds cobbled together to make consumers feel warm and confident.
I like coming up with names for stuff. When I come up with names (Dakota Free Press, SD Voice, Incumbent Protection Plan, People Power Petition…), I usually use real words with real meaning, to convey what the thing so named is for. Avantara could be anything: nursing home, hotel, research lab, ad agency, consulting firm.
But we probably shouldn’t dwell on one more meaningless marketing name slapped onto our local facilities. Folks aren’t going to work at nursing homes for free or run them on good wishes. If Chicago high finance is what it takes to keep rural South Dakota nursing homes open, we can’t complain too much. Let’s just hope Legacy Healthcare keeps reminding Cascade that its clients are grandmas and grandpas, not just branding opportunities and dollar signs.
Since it was a hedge fund group that originally bought all the nursing homes in SD that have closed or in receivorship this does not bodecwell.
Avantara means “They are” in the language of Kannada. It’s spelled ಅವಂತರ. Kannada is a Dravidian language related to Telugu, spoken mostly in Karnataka in Southwestern India. (Also called Kanarese) 🤓
First rule of thumb… raise rates by double figures.
Secondly… .cut expenses to the bone.
Thirdly… recoup investment ASAP.
Fourthly….Sell the real estate and move out smartly. Pulling the old Sears route.
Great addition, Jerry.
Check the set of Avantara’s wings and you’ll notice no difference between their wings and a vulture capitalist’s wings.
Cory, in naming stuff I noticed that you omitted mention of “Madville.” Perhaps that was the reason for your qualifier “usually?”
Porter: “they are…” no predicate adjective or nominative? What are they, I wonder?
Bear! Very perceptive! Exactly. I can give the origin or “Madville”: fellow 1989 Madison HS Debate alumnus Jon Lauck used “Madville” to describe our hometown of Madison during his 2004 astroturf-blogging for his boss John Thune. That mention in October 2004 inspired the title of my own Madville Times in August 2005.
An opposing lawyer once referred to my blog as “curiously named”. “Madville” has room for interpretation, but, unlike “Avantara,” “Madville” has clear objective content that any speaker of English can denotatively access: it refers to Madison, it mocks Madison, and it indicates that the things discussed signify a certain madness, either on the part of the author or the subjects of the blog posts.
Avantara is an abracadabra combination of sounds which, even if they had some logical origin, do not present themselves clearly to any passerby.
And I’m with Lynn: owners focused on finance, not to mention the financial hocus-pocus of hedge funds, are less likely to manage in the interests of patients than owners focused on health care.
Words without meaning that kind of sound like something are so popular among branders.
Thrivent, Allianz, Allegiant, and so on, ad infinitum.
I echo the fears of Mike and Jerry. Never trust hedge funds.
I’ve called it Madville, off and on, since ’76. I came to CO to snow ski during a couple weeks off from the oil rigs and stayed in an empty bedroom, in a really big house, in a suburb north of Denver. There were guys living there from Madville, Moan Town (Romona), Oldham (no mocking name needed), and Waterhole. We all made fun of our SD towns because of the intolerance we’d all escaped.
Perhaps the Chicago financiers gave their company an Indian (subcontinent) name because that’s where they get many of their nurses in their bigger city facilities. At one time, one of the biggest labor problems in India was that the majority of trained nurses would leave India for America. Traveling nurses are treated like gold. Free housing for the entire family. Paid tuition to private schools for the kids. Season ski tickets for the husband, who doesn’t need to work. Choice of schedules. Higher pay than American nurses got, if they signed yearly contracts, etc.
Worker recruitment? Interesting speculation, Porter!
I’d like a rigorous linguistic study comparing the number of people in South Dakota who understand “Avantara” and the number who would recognize “Madville” as a reference to Jon Lauck’s and my hometown.
As an insignificant aside … It was the name Madville Times that made me stop and read your blog for the first time (when it crossed my screen) while researching something. Had you chosen “The Madison Blues” from George Thorogood, you’d never have had to read my foolishness. There’s only one Madville but there is also a Brookville.
I love The Madison Blues and anything else George Thorogood sings. IMHO, the Blues are in a fantastic state of awesomeness at this time … Shemeka Copeland, Samantha Fish, the always great Marcia Ball, Keb Mo, Taj, George Benson, Joanna Connor, and on endlessly. Of course the great, deceased Queen Etta James and King BB. 😁😁😁 It’s my favorite genre of music.
50 years ago there was Aberdabber. Don’t know if it lives on. Cory?
We used to do a thing at the agency back when we served such clients to see how many bogus real estate development names we could come up with. Like Ridgevista Acre Crossing, Hogback Mountain Cabins, etc. Also with Band names, Leather Banana, etc. Standard practice was, brainstorm, focus group, logo. Emotion and poetry transcends logic and reason in marketing every time.
That said, doesn’t “Avant” mean (or imply) leadership, forefront, cutting edge or whatever? Maybe “advanced” (in a good way?) Recall that Xerox and Apple didn’t mean anything either.
Market feedback is what ultimately brings the meaning, and if you’re lucky, like Xerox and Frigidaire, your name comes to dominate the whole category. Thus endeth the old school marketing memoir. ;^)
Hi Bill. Nice to hear from you. 😊
Sometimes I just laugh at the names developers slap on streets and such here in Minnesota. “Fox” seems to be the most popular, with “Deer” a close second. The most convoluted names cram together at least one critter, Fox, with one geographic feature, Ridge, and one map designation, Curve. Funny.