Rosecrance Health Network, a non-profit behavioral health provider, decided last week against leasing a wing of the Champaign County Nursing Home in Urbana, Ill., for use as a temporary residential addiction treatment center.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (DPH) took too long in deciding whether or not to approve the lease, which would have started April 1, the county board of Champaign County said, according to reporting from WCIA.
IDPH wanted to know where 60 beds from the leased wing would be moved and and how the addiction treatment wing would be locked and patrolled, WCIA reported.
“While this collaboration with the board and administration has been excellent, the logistical/regulatory challenges have not provided for a timely solution, precluding this as a viable option,” Rosecrance told The News-Gazette.
The nursing home owed more than $2 million to outside vendors and almost another $2 million to different Champaign County government funds at the last report, The News-Gazette reported.
If the deal with Rosecrance had come to fruition, the Champaign County Nursing Home would have received monthly lease payments of $16,860, with an initial term of six months, according to The News-Gazette.
Facing a rampant epidemic of opioid addiction, drug rehab providers have increasingly eyed skilled nursing facilities, which share structural features with traditional inpatient behavioral health centers. Skilled nursing providers looking to exit the industry or trim their footprints could potentially find buyers in these rehab operators, though they often face opposition from local lawmakers and neighborhood stakeholders
Written by Maggie Flynn