Stymied by a money-losing medical unit that’s averaged fewer than two patients a day since mid-2017, West Hartford’s Hebrew Senior Care wants to make a $1 million bet on the soaring demand for adult and elderly psychiatric services.
The company’s Hebrew Home and Hospital business has asked state regulators for permission to close its 23-bed medical unit, and increase its behavioral health bed count from 22 to 38. The shift would require a different type of state license.
The company is also planning to build an outpatient clinic to transition discharged behavioral patients, and hopes to grow its relationships with insurers and other payors.
“These actions will ultimately result in increased patient volume and corresponding revenues,” Hebrew wrote in its application to the state.
The project would cost an estimated $1 million, much of it to be spent on construction and renovation work.
The Office of Health Strategy is reviewing the application, first filed in December.
Absent the approval and new license, Hebrew said, its existing 22 “gero-psych” beds would be at risk of closure.
If OHS signs off, Hebrew’s financial projections show it anticipates an additional $4 million to $5 million per year in additional net patient service revenue.
However, the company wrote that it doesn’t plan to start fundraising for the project until its application is approved.
It wouldn’t be Hebrew’s first strategic shift.
The company filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy in late 2016, selling off its 257-bed skilled nursing home to National Health Care Associates.
Hebrew emerged from bankruptcy about seven months later, but struggled with its medical unit’s low patient volumes — a problem Hebrew said it couldn’t solve, despite a strategic referral partnership with Masonicare.
Hebrew said an aging population — one that also has a higher divorce rate — is driving the demand for adult and elderly psychiatric services, as is an increasing number of people living with dementia.
Hebrew said it has been turning away 165 behavioral-health patients a year because its existing beds are often full.
