The Ensign Group Inc., whose operating subsidiaries provide a range of skilled nursing and assisted living services, has acquired nine facilities in Iowa and Nebraska in a cash deal that closed July 18. Ensign purchases included Careage Hills in Cherokee; West Bend Care Center and Prairie Creek Assisted Living, both in West Bend; Hillcrest Health Care Center and Mica Hill Estates, both in Hawarden; Careage of Clarion in Clarion; and Careage of Fort Dodge in Fort Dodge. “We expect the former Careage facilities to pave the way for additional disciplined growth in Nebraska, Iowa and the Midwest,” said Ensign President and CEO Christopher Christensen in a release. He expects the assets, which had an occupancy rate at transfer of approximately 74 percent, to be operationally accretive to earnings in 2011.