The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) is requesting the power to take over 15 nursing homes after their operator told the state it cannot make upcoming payroll.
The nursing homes were operated by Wood Ridge, N.J.-based Skyline Healthcare, which was unable to make payroll at 21 nursing facilities in Nebraska. Those facilities were placed under the control of a third-party receiver late last week.
KDADS has requested permission to place the 15 Kansas skilled nursing facilities in receivership from 13 district courts, and five of the 13 have given permission, according to The Kansas City Star.
However, Skyline will also have to respond to the court filings.
Skyline acquired the Kansas facilities in 2016, the same year it took over the 21 Nebraska facilities that had been operated by Golden Living. The company owes about $500,000 in bed taxes to the state and had recently been having trouble paying its vendors, KDADS spokesperson Angela de Rocha told the Star
The affected nursing homes have about 845 residents, about 80% of which are covered through Medicaid, the Star reported. While Kansas has taken over operations of a nursing home at least once before this, it has never done so on this scale, de Rocha told the publication.
Mission Health Care, which operates 14 nursing homes in Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Tennessee and Wisconsin, agreed to oversee the operation of the Kansas facilities.
Written by Maggie Flynn