Bruce Lunsford

William Bruce Lunsford (born November 11, 1947) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician from Kentucky.

He has served various roles in the Kentucky Democratic Party, including party treasurer, Deputy Development Secretary, and Head of Commerce.

Bruce Lunsford was born in Kenton County, Kentucky on November 11, 1947, to Amos and Billie Lunsford; Lunsford's mother, Billie, was later killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver.

When Lunsford was a child, his father left his job as a union shop steward for General Electric Cincinnati and borrowed money to purchase a small farm in Piner, Kentucky, where Lunsford spent his childhood.

In high school, Lunsford became an all-conference basketball player at Simon Kenton High School, and was also a five-year starter on the baseball team.

When he enrolled at University of Kentucky in 1965, he worked as an intramural adviser on campus and joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Lunsford graduated with a political science degree in 1969, with a minor in accounting.

After graduation, Lunsford went to work for a Cincinnati accounting firm, passed the CPA exam and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1970.

That fall, he started taking evening classes at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, and graduated in the top ten percent of his class in 1974.

Lunsford entered the National Guard during law school.

After training at Fort Bragg and Fort Lee, he became a member of the U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Thomas, where he stayed for five and a half years.

He donated $1 million to the Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

In the 1979 race for Governor of Kentucky, Lunsford became the Northern Kentucky representative for the campaign of John Y. Brown Jr. When Brown won the primary Lunsford became treasurer of the Kentucky Democratic Party.

When Brown won the general election, he made Lunsford the Deputy Development Secretary, then his Legislative Liaison.

Lunsford was named Kentucky's first Secretary of Commerce in 1980, the head of Kentucky's first Commerce Cabinet.

In that post, Lunsford marketed the state as a business destination and helped land more than 55,000 new jobs and $4.6 billion in new manufacturing investment.

Lunsford and two other partners founded Vencor in 1985.

Originally the company was called Vencare, but an initial public offering was registered under the name Vencor in 1989.

At one point during Lunsford's tenure, Vencor grew to employ over 65,000 people in 45 states, with more than 300 facilities caring for 50,000 patients.

Vencor also became a Fortune 500 company.

In 1997, the US Government drastically reduced Medicare reimbursement rates with the passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which had a significant impact on the nursing home industry.

The New York Times business writer Kenneth Gilpin wrote that "The drop in payments was so dramatic that the financial structures of many of these companies were not flexible enough to adjust."

In 1998, Vencor was split into two companies.

One company, Ventas became a real estate investment trust (REIT) which owned all of the real-estate property, and leased space to the second company, Vencor, which operated the facilities.

At the time, Vencor was expanding rapidly, and it considered that using a REIT provided a better financing structure to allow the companies to grow.

At the time of the split, all shareholders in Vencor were issued one share of Ventas for every share of Vencor that they held.

He went on the mention that as of the summer of 1999, 12 percent of the 1.7 million nursing home beds were operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

As a result of the Medicare cuts, Vencor filed for Chapter 11 protection from bankruptcy in September 1999.

At the time, five of the top seven nursing homes filed for chapter 11 protection from bankruptcy, however Vencor (then Kindred) was the first to emerge.

During the Chapter 11 reorganization, Vencor shares lost their value; however, Ventas shares improved from below $4 per share in 1999 to trading around $50 per share in April 2008.

Lunsford served as the CEO of both companies until resigning in 1999, and remained the Chairman of Ventas until 2003.

Vencor was renamed Kindred healthcare in 2001.

A civil claims suit in 2001 alleged that Vencor knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, the military's health care program.

Vencor maintained that they had committed no wrongdoing and continued to dispute the claims until after Lunsford left the company.

Vencor later settled the case for $104.5 million, including $54 million for alleged improper claims in Medicare cost reports, $24 million for alleged overbilling in respiratory care services, and $20 million for alleged failure of care claims.

The company did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Lunsford has been involved as an investor, director and adviser to many other start-up businesses through Lunsford Capital and has also been active in thoroughbred horse racing and independent film production.

Lunsford has raced several graded stakes winners, including Madcap Escapade, First Samurai, Tessa Blue and Bel Air Beauty.

Through Hart-Lunsford Pictures, he has co-produced several acclaimed independent films, including Grace is Gone, Diminished Capacity, Dedication, Birds of America, and Me and Orson Welles.

Lunsford was the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's United States Senate seat in 2008, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell.