[Update 6/2/2023: The old Champaign County Nursing Home is now in the process of being shut down, as initially feared by those reluctant to sell the facility to private entity, especially one with a history of buying and shutting down nursing homes. From a Cheat Sheet post:
The local nursing home facility is now in the process of being closed. From the News-Gazette:
The nursing home at 500 S. Art Bartell Road, U, which has operated as University Rehabilitation Center of C-U since the county sold it in 2019 — has launched a 60-day process to voluntarily close as of June 17.
County officials have received a formal notice of the impending closure of the facility commonly known as University Rehab...
The closure notice cites declining demand for beds, shorter post-acute stays and a low Medicaid reimbursement rate as contributing factors in the decision to close.
More at the full article here. The News-Gazette also had an editorial blaming the closure on a lack of demand (a letter to the editor disputed that framing). Champaign County Health Care Consumers had previously disputed the lack of demand claims. From the CCHCC website in March:
Low census numbers in nursing homes often correlate with quality of care. The more quality of care problems there are at a nursing home, the more likely that their census will go down because they will receive fewer referrals, and fewer families will want to place their loved ones in nursing homes with poor reputations. Many Champaign County residents are currently being transferred to nursing homes outside of our county (which is a real hardship on them and their families) because they cannot be placed in local facilities.]
Original Nursing Home Page Information:
The Nursing Home has finally changed hands. There may have been disagreement on whether to sell the home or not, but neither side of that debate appeared to want to see the budgetary limbo continue during these delays. From the News-Gazette's eEdition this morning:
Nursing home sale finalized, at long lastFull article now available on their website here and also their eEdition with more details about the sale terms and the delay chronology. It will likely be on their main website later this morning. For the last Cheat Sheet post detailing the delays: Nursing Home Sale Delay Update. The previous recent posts with the "Nursing Home" label talked about the latest County Board actions on funding during the delay here.
After months of delays and financial bailouts, the former Champaign County Nursing Home in Urbana has officially changed hands.
County officials finalized the sale to the new owner Monday, according to County Executive Darlene Kloeppel...
The new name of the nursing home at 500 Art Bartell Road is University Rehabilitation Center of C-U, and the legal entity operating the home is University Rehabilitation Center of C-U LLC.
While the final sales price remained the originally-agreed-to $11 million, there were $1,340,000 in credits made to the buyer that were negotiated as adjustments against the final sales price, Kloeppel said.
The credits resulted mostly from issues identified by the buyer based on the condition of the building, Kloeppel said. Plus, she said, the county didn’t meet certain closing conditions on time, so the buyer waived certain legal rights in exchange for financial considerations.
[Archived page]
Quick Scroll Links:
Resources at the Top:
- Top Resources (immediately below)
- News Resources
- "The Vote"
- Pre-Election Backdrop
News-Gazette Photo
Resources at the Top:
Nursing Home main website: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/ccnh
All Nursing Home posts here.
County Board Information Packet Regarding Sale of Champaign County Nursing Home
Nursing Home sales process explained with link to more information: Nursing Home Sales Process Update
Gordy Hulten Push Polling and Nursing Home Budget Disagreements summed up with recent news and links from a Cheat Sheet post: Push Polling and Nursing Home Budgets
Minimum bid requirements / terms of sale at this N-G article under "Terms of Sale": Champaign County Board votes to put nursing home up for sale
Are the bidding terms in the RFP meant to block the sale? Proponents of the sale say no: Nursing Home Bid Requirements "Boilerplate"
News Resources: Order from recent to older
What's next now that the sale has been approved? Cheat Sheet post with News-Gazette link here: Nursing Home Sale Next Moves
County Board votes to sell! Cheat Sheet post with News-Gazette link here: Nursing Home to be Sold
Board vacancy and Nursing Home Vote question (N-G article here) / CCHCC responds to County Board information on sale: Nursing Home Vote Tomorrow (WCIA article and segment here).
Three County Democratic Candidates come out in favor of selling the Nursing Home:
3 Dems seeking countywide offices voice support for sale of nursing home
Three Democratic candidates for countywide offices announced Thursday that they are throwing their support behind the sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home.
The county board has a proposal from Altitude Health Services and Extended Care Clinical LLC, both based in Evanston, to buy the financially challenged facility for $11 million, but most Democratic board members have voiced opposition to the sale.
Darlene Kloeppel, Laurel Prussing and George Danos said they want to keep the county's financial position from getting worse and prevent a possible "shuttering of the home..."
Their comments come in the wake of a presentation by executives from Altitude Health Services and Extended Care Clinical at a special county board meeting Wednesday night.
With a vote to sell pending, the vote count to do so appears to be at 13 of the 15 yes votes:
Tom Kacich | Decision day on nursing home sale approaching
The Champaign County Board is moving steadily toward its biggest vote in years — whether to sell the county-owned nursing home — but members of the board's Democratic majority say they still believe there aren't enough votes for a sale.
There is a potential buyer, a joint offer from Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc., both headquartered in Evanston, who have offered $11 million for the nursing home. And a vote is tentatively set for the May 24 county board meeting.
But any sale would require 15 board members to vote in favor, and the vote-counters in the Democratic caucus say there aren't 15 votes, even with all 10 Republican board members solidly behind it. The latest count was 13 votes to sell.
The Nursing Home sale is fraught with with bureaucratic hurdles that could make the deal fall apart at almost any given step of the process. The News-Gazette lays out some of those hurdles:
Potential sale of nursing home shaping up to be long, bumpy road
Today, a special county committee assessing the sole offer to buy the Champaign County Nursing Home is scheduled to tour three of the bidder's Chicago-area homes and ask questions of residents, staff and administrators.
But it's clear from the debate at a meeting Monday night that not everyone on the nine-member panel is eager to sell the property, despite its financial problems and the $11 million offer from Extended Care Clinical and Altitude Health Services, both of Evanston, to buy the nursing home in east Urbana.
And county officials say they need a strong consensus from the review panel in order to persuade the county board, which could decide to sell the home as soon as next month.
But even that wouldn't be the last word, members of the special evaluation committee learned Monday night.
"Even if you recommend to sell, and it goes to the county board, and the county board votes to sell the nursing home," said Van Anderson, special project administrator for the county, "that starts a due-diligence period. In that due-diligence period, if (the bidders) find $150,000 of repairs that need to be made in a six-month time frame, just that amount, they can pull out and get all their money back.
"Even if the county board votes for selling this, we're not home free. There's still a due-diligence period. And they have to be licensed by the (state public health department) before there's a closing on that home. So we're not out of the woods."
The county's timetable calls for a recommendation from the evaluation committee on April 25 and a vote by the county board — which would require at least 15 "yes" votes from the 22-member board — on May 24.
Nursing Home and the Rosecrance Lease for Drug Treatment [UPDATE: This potential deal fell through after issues with state regulations and the state agency overseeing them:
Rosecrance drops bidOriginal Link: March COW information on the proposal. News-Gazette editorial excerpt:
Earlier Tuesday, Weibel reported that Rosecrance Health Network had dropped its plan to lease a wing at the nursing home for use as a temporary addiction treatment center. The six-month lease would have yielded about $16,860 a month to the nursing home fund.
Approval of a provisional agreement between the county and Rosecrance had been on the agenda for Tuesday night's meeting.
But problems in securing approval from the Illinois Department of Public Health prompted Rosecrance to abandon the plan.]
Given the Champaign County Nursing Home's terrible financial problems, it's no surprise county officials are willing to consider any offer that boosts cash flow there.
Still, it was a bit of a surprise to learn county officials are considering leasing a portion of the facility for use as an addiction treatment center for more than 20 patients.
Drug addicts mixed in with elderly and infirm nursing home residents? What could possible go wrong?
County officials, obviously, had the same concerns, and it looks as if the safety question will be adequately addressed if this plan gets off the ground.
Under the agreement, Rosecrance Health Systems will pay $16,860 a month to lease one wing of the nursing home for six months, possibly longer.
That's a pittance compared with the nursing home's debts of about $4 million to its vendors as well as the county itself. But it's better than nothing.
If these two operations can be conducted simultaneously and safely within the nursing home, fine.
Chair of the Friends of the Champaign County Nursing Home talks about negativity, push polls, and protecting a community asset. Excerpt from the News-Gazette article:
While some of us in the county have had direct experience with the home and prize it as a public asset with a very long history of caring for the most vulnerable and destitute, there has been an onslaught of negativity from the Republicans, The News-Gazette and county board Democrat Patsi Petri...
It would be preferable if the county would also: (1) seek out, or give priority to, nonprofit buyers because of their better records nation-wide; (2) exclude from consideration corporations engaged in "related property transactions" that do business only with their own separate companies for services (according to Kaiser Health News, quality of care is worst among this kind of private company, New York Times, 1/7/18, page 1 Business); and (3) exclude from consideration any buyers, private or public, whose nursing homes average less than a 2-star rating, which is the rating of our nursing home now.
We have to consider the welfare of the residents of our nursing home. Whatever the problems our home is presently confronting, we cannot in good conscience deliver the residents to a worse situation as a result of a sale. Fortunately, an actual sale would require affirmative votes by 15 board members, two more than just approved putting the home up for sale. If we reach a point where we advocates cannot prevent a sale, then at least we can pressure members of the board to act in the best interests of present and future residents.
The passage of the RFP (also see fact check on whether the RFP is designed to deter buyers) that starts the bidding process, full report from the N-G and Cheat Sheet writeups: Nursing Home Sale Inches Closer to Reality
Champaign County Board members voted Tuesday night to put the county nursing home up for sale.
By a margin of 13-8, with Democrats Pattsi Petrie, C. Pius Weibel and Shana Jo Crews joining all 10 Republicans, the board voted to issue a request for proposals from private operators to purchase the county-owned facility in east Urbana. Champaign Democrat Giraldo Rosales was absent from the meeting.
Weibel, the chair of the county board, said he voted for the sale because continuing to operate the nursing home for a full year would threaten other parts of county government.
"If we were to keep the nursing home, we'd be struggling to find money for it," he said. "It's money. We don't have the money to do it. Either we keep the nursing home going or we lay off other people."
Heading into a new year and new round of Nursing Home votes (cheat sheet post on special meeting of the County Board: Nursing Home on the Chopping Block and Board Vacancies):
Debt-laden county nursing home reports rare profitable month
November was the first month last year that the Champaign County Nursing Home reported net income, members of the county's nursing home advisory board were told Monday night.
The county-owned home showed a profit of $30,000 in November, an improvement from a $66,574 loss it incurred in October. Prior monthly losses were in six figures.
And the home's average daily census inched up to about 138, although it had fallen back slightly to 136 on Monday. The nursing home has 243 beds.
"Everything is moving in the right direction," said Suzanne Koenig, the president of SAK Management Services, the Northfield-based firm that has been paid about $48,000 a month to manage the home.
"Things are becoming operationally viable," added nursing home board member Cathy Emmanuel.
But the nursing home still has tremendous debts, including more than $2.4 million it owes to various county funds, according to a Dec. 12 report by the county auditor. The facility also owed $2.7 million to outside vendors, the auditor said.
The News-Gazette all but called Democrats' continued support for the nursing home delusional as it mocked their moral superiority and accused them of being do-gooder die-hards unbowed by facts. It's pretty harsh:
Incredible divide on nursing home
The Champaign County Board's handling of the nursing home controversy is taking on other-wordly features.
Those who are conflicted in their view or have no opinion on the future viability of the county nursing home need only look at the latest budgetary contortions the board has put itself through.
Last week, in what can only be described as an act of desperation, the board voted 13-8 to fund the financially beleaguered nursing home for six months. The board's majority opted for that questionable course as a means of avoiding a decision on how to cut $1.4 million in spending needed to support the county's statutorily mandated programs so it could continue to fund the purely optional nursing home.
If this isn't a case of the tail wagging the dog, it's darn close...
Excerpts from two articles and one editorial before the County Board Committee of the Whole meeting 11/14/2017: Nursing Home Pre-Meeting News
The News-Gazette: Tom Kacich: Privately commissioned poll claims tide turning against nursing home
Democrats on the Champaign County Board have been saying for months that they felt justified in opposing the sale of the county nursing home because their constituents in the county's urban core opposed it in a ballot question last April.
But County Clerk Gordy Hulten says public opinion has shifted, and he commissioned a poll — using his own campaign funds — to prove it.
First, some background: Last April's consolidated election featured this advisory question countywide: "Shall the Champaign County Board be authorized to sell or dispose of the Champaign County Nursing Home?"
The issue passed overwhelmingly in areas outside of Champaign-Urbana — those represented exclusively be Republicans — about 67 percent to 33 percent.
But in Champaign and Urbana — those districts represented by Democrats — the question lost by a big majority, particularly in Urbana where it went down, 69 percent to 31 percent.
That was April, though, and public opinion has moved over the last seven months as the nursing home's finances have worsened and there have been health and safety issues at the county-owned institution.
In a telephone poll done only within the six county board districts represented by Democrats (out of 11 districts), about 53 percent said they would support the sale of the nursing home in order to solve the county's financial problems, while 29 percent opposed the sale. About 18 percent said they were undecided.
The single polling question asked was: "As you may know from published reports, the Champaign County Nursing Home is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every month, and two residents died this year due to alleged negligence. To remedy the situation, the county board must now decide between cutting services — such as laying off police officers and eliminating some early voting locations — or selling the home to a privately funded company prepared to provide better care. We'd like to know whether you support or oppose the sale of the Champaign County Nursing Home in an effort to solve the problems?"
News-Gazette: Tom Kacich: Who's going to mind Champaign County's finances?
The chairman of the Champaign County Board's finance committee has already left, the county's administrator is leaving in about a month, and the county treasurer will be gone Dec. 31.
So, who's going to be minding the store or, more precisely, the county's finances?
It's an important question because the county faces crucial issues about a shrinking general fund balance and a nursing home that is still losing money although the county's board's Democratic majority threw it a lifeline last week.
In his last month as county administrator (he was hired last week to be village administrator in Rantoul), Rick Snider has to put together a new county budget that will include up to $1.3 million in budget cuts or revenue increases to balance the budget. That's because the county board voted to stop a proposed sale of the nursing home and to keep it under county ownership for another year.
Snider said Tuesday that it going to be difficult to do without cutting jobs.
"I don't see any way without affecting personnel that we can do it," he said.
"I think there's an opportunity for us to defer some capital expenditures, but there's not a lot of that in the budget anyway. There's really nowhere left to cut."
Earlier this year, every countywide elected official, Republican and Democrat, urged the county board in a letter to sell the nursing "as soon as practicable" in order to avoid more cuts to staff and services. At that time, Snider suggested that 24 to 30 positions could be lost if the sale of the nursing home wasn't part of the county budget.
"I think we've had some improvement," Snider acknowledged Tuesday. "I think if we allow for what we're looking at, though, we're still looking in the neighborhood of 20 positions."
For now, that's the choice that will face the county board in November: cut positions throughout county government, or begin anew the process of selling the nursing home.
And after that vote, Snider will head to Rantoul. County Treasurer Dan Welch will be gone about a month later. The head of the county board's finance committee, Democrat Chris Alix, resigned from the board earlier this month.
News-Gazette: Tom Kacich: County board looking line by line for budget fix
Champaign County Board members who want to both keep the county nursing home under public control and avoid layoffs in other departments are getting deeply immersed in the county budget in advance of a critical meeting.
The choices are not easy.
"I've been in meetings for more than five hours over the last few weeks and I haven't even been at all of the meetings," said Champaign Democrat Stephanie Fortado, appointed to the county board in June and already the deputy chair of the finance committee. "We're just going through the budget line by line. If you come up with a scenario, we've probably already talked about it."
County board Democrats, who last month voted against putting the money-losing nursing home up for sale, have to find an estimated $1.4 million of budget cuts or new revenue to balance the county's spending plan for the year beginning Jan. 1.
Fortado's goal, she said, is to "make sure the nursing home stays public, but I also want to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure that the cuts don't hurt personnel.
"There are no easy answers. When the whole board comes together (at a committee of the whole meeting) is when we're going to have those conversations. But we haven't found the one silver bullet."
News-Gazette: County board to get first look at proposal for sale of nursing home
The proposed request for proposals for the sale of the facility carries a number of stipulations:
— A minimum purchase price of $11 million.
— That the purchaser assume the existing collective bargaining agreements at the home with the AFSCME employee union.
— That the purchaser agree to rehire all existing employees who pass a background check and not terminate 10 percent or more of the employees within the first 60 days following the closing date of the sale and no more than 20 percent in the first six months after the sale.
— That for at least 10 years, priority for admissions must be given to Champaign County residents and that for at least 10 years, a minimum of 50 percent of the facility's long-term-care beds should be set aide for Medicaid patients.
— That the purchaser must detail how it would work with and be accountable to the public.
— That the sale of the building is "as is" and that the county makes no representations or warranties as to the condition of the nursing home.
— That the purchaser agrees to maintain a skilled nursing facility with 220 beds until Dec. 31, 2027.
The marketing of the nursing home is being handled by Chicago real-estate brokerage firm of Marcus & Millichap.
A timeline accompanying the request for proposals shows they would be due Dec. 22 and that selection of the qualified buyer would be accomplished between Jan. 8 and March 1, 2018.
News-Gazette: Champaign County budget mockup to assume nursing home gets sold soon
URBANA — Champaign County Board members Thursday night went on record in favor of a budget that assumes the sale of the county-owned nursing home next spring.
The 12-7 vote, which is essentially non-binding, was taken in order to give County Administrator Rick Snider guidance for preparing a full 2018 budget that would be ready for a county board vote in November. But there will be plenty of opportunities in the coming months for board members to reverse the vote.
Voting in favor of a budget that assumes the county will operate the Champaign County Nursing Home for six months and then sell it sometime next year were all 10 Republicans on the county board, plus Democrats Pattsi Petrie of Champaign and Chris Alix of Urbana.
But Thursday's vote at a study session was taken while three of the board's 12 Democrats — Giraldo Rosales, James Tinsley and Stephanie Fortado — were absent. In general, the board's Democrats have been less inclined to sell the financially troubled nursing home.
Earlier this year, county voters defeated a proposed tax increase to subsidize the nursing home and approved a ballot question, by 54 percent to 46 percent, to authorize the county board to sell the facility.
News-Gazette: Champaign County Nursing Home may need loan to meet payroll
Health care talks continueOn a separate track, Snider said the county is still in negotiations with two unnamed local health care providers on possibly taking over the nursing home from the county.
Ron Aldrich, a health care consultant from New Mexico, had recommended earlier this year that the nursing home be reorganized as a nonprofit corporation with sponsorship by other local health care businesses.
Snider said county representatives met with "potential partners" last month.
"I don't want to say who. The meeting was good. We had a good discussion," he said. "I think that some of the ideas that were discussed are going to be considered seriously. And then we're supposed to get together within the month to follow up on it.
"We're going to come back, and they're going to determine what is feasible, what might be within the realm of possibility."
The Vote:
On the County Board vote to sell: From the News-Gazette: Champaign County Board approves sale of nursing home
The Champaign County Nursing Home will be privately owned come August.
Following months of debate and deliberations, the Champaign County Board voted 15-6 Thursday night to authorize the sale of the financially challenged home to Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc., both headquartered in Evanston.
The purchase price was $11 million, the minimum set by the county board.
The proposal required a supermajority of at least 14 votes to pass, according to an opinion from Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz.
All 10 Republican board members supported the sale. They were joined by Democrats Pattsi Petrie, Giraldo Rosales, Chris Stohr, Shana Jo Crews and C. Pius Weibel.
On the referendum to sell: News-Gazette: Nursing home residents angry, tearful after votes
An analysis of the vote on the nursing home questions shows that most Champaign and Urbana precincts were pro-nursing home, both for the tax increase and against the sale.
But in the rural areas of the county, the vote was solidly the other way. In Ogden 2, a precinct that votes at the Royal Community Building, nearly 90 percent of voters opposed the tax increase and 92.5 percent favored selling the nursing home.
Backdrop Pre-Election Referendum:
News-Gazette: Article with Champaign County Health Care Consumers Executive Director Claudia Lennhoff: An excellent introductory summary from before the last referendum. Excerpt:
Title: "Patient advocates back county ownership of nursing home"
Lennhoff said Champaign County doesn't have to look any farther than neighboring Vermilion County to see what can happen when a county disposes of its nursing home. After the county sold its Vermilion Manor Nursing Home to FNR Healthcare Group in 2013, the county was caught by surprise when 39 employees were cut by the new owner, she said.
Now called Gardenview Manor, the Danville nursing home was hit by the Illinois Department of Public Health in January for two "type A" violations, which mean "a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result or has resulted" in the past three months.
No comments:
Post a Comment