New Year’s Catch-Up: ManorCare’s Rent Cut, Regulatory Rollbacks

In case you’ve been blissfully away from your e-mail since before Christmas, here’s a quick rundown of the skilled nursing headlines you missed.

QCP Cuts ManorCare a Break

Quality Care Properties, Inc. (NYSE: QCP) gave its troubled tenant HCR ManorCare a generous Boxing Day present, announcing a one-year rent cut in a December 26 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Toledo, Ohio-based nursing home provider will now pay $23.5 million per month for the year ending November 2018, with the remaining rent obligations becoming immediately due and payable at the end of the period.

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But ManorCare’s management doesn’t expect to come up with even the reduced rent, QCP noted in the filing, with the provider reporting that it won’t pay “a material portion” of its bill for some or all of the yearlong rent break.

“QCP has reserved all rights and remedies with respect to [ManorCare’s] failure, at any time, to pay reduced cash rent,” the Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment trust (REIT) said.

As part of the deal, QCP also agreed not to pursue any actions related to ManorCare’s rent default until January 16. The news came just a few weeks after the REIT extended the deadline for ManorCare to respond to a receivership claim to January 15.

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Trump Administration Relaxes Regluations

The New York Times rounded up ways in which the Trump administration has eased regulatory burdens for nursing homes during the president’s first year in office — including an October decision to discourage regional Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offices for fining facilities for one-time mistakes, to a newfound shift from per-day fines to one-time penalties.

Industry groups such as the American Health Care Association applauded the news, with senior vice president for quality David Gifford telling the Times that per-day fines didn’t achieve their intended goals.

“What was happening is you were seeing massive fines accumulating because they were applying them on a per-day basis retroactively,” Gifford said.

Consumer watchdogs, meanwhile, believe the changes have been too friendly to the industry, with a Center for Medicare Advocacy lawyer claiming that the Trump administration has “emasculated enforcement.”

More News from Irma Tragedy

Temperatures inside the Hollywood, Fla. nursing home where multiple residents died in the wake of Hurricane Irma reached 99 degrees, according to a new report from the Sun Sentinel. That’s 18 degrees warmer than the maximum allowable temperature under the law, the paper noted.

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills lost power during the September storm, and 14 residents eventually died from hurricane-related health complications.

Written by Alex Spanko

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