Covenant Care Names New CEO

Covenant Care has tapped Nathan Ure as its next CEO.

He joined the Covenant Care team in June after spending nearly eight years in executive leadership roles at Sun Mar Healthcare.

Other career achievements include founding Cambridge Healthcare and being an early equity partner at the Ensign Group, according to a LinkedIn post announcing the appointment. Ure has been involved in the acquisition and stabilization of more than 80 skilled nursing facilities throughout his career. 

He told Skilled Nursing News on Wednesday at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) Fall Conference that he ultimately found Covenant Care to be the right fit as the nursing home operator had “done a lot of the right things” but needed a new direction.

“I felt like I could help them and that they had a sincere desire to move into the new future and that this is a great moment for that. I believe that … They are set for creating a beautiful new future that’s really catering to a new post-Covid environment,” Ure told SNN.

Aliso Viejo, Calif.- based Covenant Care operates 29 skilled nursing facilities in California and Nevada.

Ure said the company has set its sights on being very clinically driven by data and also clinical projects that have an “umbrella effect.” It’s part of the bigger idea of taking a much more proactive approach in patient care, or in Ure’s words, being fire marshals instead of firefighters.

And that’s resulted in dramatic census increases by 60 to 70% skilled mix over the last three months, he said.

“The acuity that’s been forced upon us I don’t think has always been embraced – and I think we’ve got to lean into the higher acuity and lean into the value proposition as an extension of the hospitals,” Ure said.