Nearly a year after the deeply troubled Haven Healthcare nursing home chain was broken up in federal bankruptcy court, several of its former properties still suffer from poor occupancy rates, two others have shut down permanently and the state struggles to find a suitable bidder for three homes still in receivership.
Formerly one of the state’s largest nursing home chains, Haven Healthcare filed for bankruptcy in November 2007 shortly after reports emerged detailing the company’s problems in paying vendors and patient-care deficiencies and that the chief executive used company assets for personal use. Before the Middletown-based company’s demise, it owned 25 locations throughout New England, including 15 in Connecticut.
State and federal officials have been investigating whether public money was improperly spent.
Haven Health Center of Jewett City, which was renamed Griswold Health & Rehab under new ownership, was shut down in April after its owners requested approval from the state Department of Social Services in January to close the 90-bed nursing home, which was 86 percent full at the time.
In order to cover operating costs and necessary capital improvements, the Griswold home’s operator said it would need a Medicaid rate increase from $216 to $282 per day, well north of the $248 maximum interim increase under Medicaid rate-setting parameters, according to the final decision from DSS to close the facility. Genesis Healthcare, which owned the property, was informed in a November 2008 report it needed roughly $4.9 million in facility upgrades just to bring the nursing home up to standards.
Haven Health Center of Waterford, which was in state receivership, closed in December after occupancy dropped to an extremely low level and the state determined the beds were no longer needed.
Its closure was almost guaranteed from the start, and residents from both shuttered homes were quickly transferred to nearby facilities.
Meanwhile, a number of former Haven Healthcare properties that experienced a mass exodus of residents have struggled to boost occupancy since the company was broken up last year.
• Rocky Hill Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, with 120 beds, dropped to 74.2 percent occupancy in March from 96.7 percent in June 2008, according to the most recent census data maintained by DSS.
• Bishops Corner Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation in West Hartford, with 130 beds, dropped from 91.5 percent occupancy to 80.8 percent over the same time period.
• Amberwoods of Farmington, which dropped from 98.6 percent capacity in June 2006 to 86.4 percent as of March, recently received a Medicaid rate adjustment from $215 per day to $223. As part of the rate adjustment agreement, the nursing home lowered its license bed count from 140 to 130.
Trouble filling the beds can be bad news for the nursing homes, considering any sudden dip in occupancy can be particularly damaging in a volatile industry.
DSS monitors nursing home census counts every quarter.
“It doesn’t take much to put you out of business,” said Stephen W. Kegler, president of the Shelton-based Long Hill Co., which provides management and consulting services to assisted living and nursing home facilities.
Kegler, whose company does accounting for the three former Haven Healthcare homes still in state receivership, said he was not surprised attendance has struggled at some locations, even a year after those properties were taken over by different companies.
“There’s panic, families get worried,” Kegler said. “They see stories in the paper, and they wonder what level of care there is going to be.”
Meanwhile, the three former Haven Healthcare homes still in state receivership — in Danielson, Norwich and Windham — have struggled to find a preferred bidder after a January bid fell through.
Occupancy at the three homes has remained stable.
Three bids for the homes have been entered since the state announced in March they were up for sale, but Attorney General Richard Blumenthal declined to name the bidders.
“I can’t discuss any of the details until a decision is made,” Blumenthal said.
The state has delayed a decision on a preferred bidder numerous times over the past six weeks, each time requesting more information from the candidates.
