After its bankruptcy sale, Genesis Healthcare executives honed in on the evolution of its management team, investing in administrators and directors of nursing differently, while doubling down on its locally structured “pod model,” which has been in development for the past two years.
Jake Komin, chief performance officer for Genesis views the bankruptcy as a reset, with the operations team seeing a lot of “inbound phone calls” from people looking to join Genesis’ performance ownership development (POD) model, or simply the pod model.
“That wasn’t the case two, three or four years ago. They looked at it as an unstable organization. Now people see what we’re doing and they want to work with us,” Komin told Skilled Nursing News.
Komin, along with COO Lauren Murray and Chief Transformation Officer Nicole Kaufman, sat down with SNN recently to discuss the company’s transformation in the aftermath of its bankruptcy sale.
There’s been a lot of progress in a short amount of time, Murray said, noting that momentum is on the operator’s side, with the creation of its market structure and pod model.
“We’ve been able to add to our markets some very strong market leaders that have joined us from other companies, from large providers during a time of change,” said Murray. “Folks are coming into the organization at a high level to continue that momentum – we see that as a very positive thing.”
Prior to going into bankruptcy, Genesis set up a special restructuring committee made up of independent directors of the company to handle anything bankruptcy-related – the ups and downs of the bankruptcy sale haven’t affected operations, said Komin.
“I think we’ve sheltered [facilities] a lot from some of the noise,” said Kaufman.
Pod model in action
Early pilot pods have reported better survey results with fewer deficiencies, higher customer satisfaction and willingness to recommend a facility, and reduced agency staffing utilization from 10% to 6% of overall staffing hours.
Executive leaders have been traveling to six or seven states, meeting with pod leaders and making sure they have the opportunity to ask direct questions about continuing operations and delivering quality care.
“In October, we started identifying a pod leader who’s also an administrator, keeping that talent as close to the bedside as possible while not plucking people out of the day-to-day – we’re keeping them right there at the ground level,” said Kaufman.
The pod leader is then able to discuss rate management opportunities, contracting opportunities and pool resource needs with three to four sister facilities, Kaufman said. This whole process would have taken half a year, going through a corporate structure, she added.
Mock surveys are all done locally within a facility’s pod, she said, calling leaders in from sister facilities if they have strong capabilities in certain areas, like infection prevention.
“As the pods were being rolled out, we were very purposeful, making sure there was stable leadership,” said Murray. “We wanted the first phases to be successful, so that now that we’re at the end, they really have a lot of people they can reach out to to get guidance from fellow pods because they’re up and mature now.”
The first pod leaders are now mentoring the new rollout of pod leaders, added Kaufman.
Genesis created its “leading with heart” initiative, where a staff member at each facility is chosen every quarter to receive $500, and on a national level, two workers across the Genesis footprint receive $10,000, a life-changing amount, Murray said.
The operator created staff boards to address certain clinical diagnoses like pressure ulcers as another operating initiative, added Murray.
Leadership pathways and creating a workforce
There have also been some leadership changes, including the addition of Kristen Morris as Genesis’ new chief clinical officer.
As for leadership training, Genesis created a DON-in-training program that doubles down on the importance of quality and understanding the Five-Star landscape, said Kaufman. Most DON training involves shadowing the person in that role, but the Genesis program has a whole curriculum behind it.
And next on the list is a training pathway for MDS roles, Kaufman said.
“As we see new nurses come into our industry, it really is a learning curve for the Five-Star Rating System and how they can impact it,” said Kaufman. “We’ve been excited about the development of a DON-in-training program that can position that new clinical leader for success, just like we have for our administrators in training.”
The executive team is starting to recruit for the DON program, both from within its organization and outside of Genesis; that means unit managers, assistant directors of nursing, or floor nurses that are excited to grow their career.
From the outside, hospital nurses are showing interest in the role, said Murray. They may not have the skilled nursing experience but they are well versed in leadership or administrative experience, she said.
The DON program will provide nurses with hands-on clinical experience, Murray said, something not readily seen in nursing school lately.
“It’s different than what it once was, the schooling … their clinicals, their simulation labs, not a lot of them are hands-on, so to be able to give them the opportunity to be prepared and know their job before they get in, it will just help them be able to really foster the clinical capabilities throughout the building,” said Murray.
Genesis already has an administrator-in-training program.; bBetween 25 and 30 administrators are due to be involved by the end of the year, said Kaufman. The goal is to have an administrator in training at each pod. The executive team is also looking to have 10 individuals in the DON program by the end of the year.
As for direct care workers, Genesis last year trained roughly 1,000 certified nurse aides (CNAs) and continues to invest in the training of people for this role. Genesis has worked with Dartmouth Health on multiple workforce pathways, including CNA training, licensed practical nurse (LPN) to registered nurse (RN) advancement, and DON development.
Some of the workforce initiatives are beginning to pay off. Genesis reduced turnover by 5 percentage points in 2025 as a result of its operational changes, with turnover rates sitting at 51%, or just below the AHCA average, Murray said.
SNN named Genesis to its Top Providers to Watch in 2026 list.
Companies featured in this article:
