State blocks California chain's bid to buy 11 nursing homes, four of them in Bristol and Plymouth counties
Health officials said inspection findings, low Medicare ratings and a $15 million staffing settlement in California made the chain unsuitable. The homes stay under a court-appointed receiver.
SOUTH COAST The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has blocked a California nursing home chain from buying 11 nursing homes in the state, including facilities in Taunton, Attleboro, Middleborough and Plymouth, after finding the company would not be a suitable operator.
The department denied Sweetwater Care’s application Tuesday. A spokesperson for the agency said the decision was based in part on health inspections that found residents in "immediate jeopardy" at least a dozen times over the last three years at Sweetwater homes in other states, along with low Medicare ratings and a $15 million settlement the chain reached with California prosecutors in July over accusations that it kept staffing at dangerously low levels.
"The decision to deny Sweetwater’s application to acquire ownership of 11 nursing homes in Massachusetts reflects our obligation to hold those seeking to own and operate long-term care facilities in the state to the highest standards of quality and care," Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in a written statement. "Owning a nursing home is an extraordinary responsibility and a privilege. The health, safety, dignity, and well-being of residents must always come first."
The 11 homes are owned by Next Step Healthcare. A Middlesex County judge appointed a receiver to temporarily control the chain earlier this year after its landlord sued, alleging the company owed millions of dollars in rent. The receiver brought Sweetwater in as temporary manager of the homes in July, and Sweetwater applied in August to take permanent ownership.
Next Step has its own record of enforcement action. The chain reached a $4 million settlement with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office in 2024 to resolve allegations that it put residents at serious risk by not hiring enough nursing staff.
Two Next Step facilities are not part of the receivership or the blocked sale because they have a different landlord: Fall River Healthcare, the city nursing home that has appeared on a federal list of the country’s poorest-performing homes, and a facility near Pittsfield. Both remain under Next Step ownership.
Massachusetts would have been a new market for Sweetwater. The chain and its affiliates own at least 28 nursing homes in California, Colorado, Montana and Kansas, and the elder advocacy group Massachusetts Dignity Alliance estimates the company’s portfolio at as many as 51 homes in seven states.
Paul Lanzikos, co-founder of the Dignity Alliance, said the agency made the right call. "I’m taking this as an indication the Department of Public Health is stepping up and applying their authority more vigorously and appropriately," he said. Lanzikos said advocates remain concerned about Sweetwater continuing to run the 11 homes day to day, but added, "I anticipate the department is going to watch them very closely."
Sweetwater has the right to appeal the denial to the state Division of Administrative Law Appeals. For now the company remains the temporary operator of the 11 homes while the receivership case continues, and the long-term future of the Next Step chain is unresolved.
The New Bedford Light reported the denial and the commissioner’s statement.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from the records listed below, each read in full Oct. 21, 2026. Quotes are word for word from the printed statements. Not heard: Sweetwater and the receiver were not contacted; comment requests to the Department of Public Health and to Sweetwater are queued in outbox/sc360/quote-requests/.
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