The New York Health Department appointed a receiver to take over Emerald South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Emerald North Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
The move was first reported by The Buffalo News, which recently published an in-depth investigation on out-of-town investors buying up nursing homes in the area.
Emerald South and Emerald North will be run by a company owned by Jeremy Strauss, the CEO of New York City-based Grand Health Care System, the Health Department confirmed to The Buffalo News.
Resident deaths at Emerald South had sparked police investigations, and Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz in August had called for a receiver to take over the facility, the publication noted.
The state and federal governments fined Emerald North $100,647 in 2017, including an $84,647 penalty that was, in part, for maintaining inaccurate records on whether or not residents wanted to be resuscitated if they experienced a medical emergency that made them unresponsive.
A company belonging to Benjamin Landa, who runs New York’s largest for-profit nursing home chain, SentosaCare, was named the receiver of Emerald South and Emerald North — which then had different names — in July 2012. A company owned by his wife, Judy Landa, and a New York City area partner purchased the operations of the two nursing homes 17 months later. A different Benjamin Landa company bought the real estate in a separate deal.
Written by Maggie Flynn
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