Four more nursing and senior care facilities previously operated by troubled provider Skyline Healthcare in Nebraska are set to close.
Klaasmeyer and Associates, the firm that state officials installed to run the properties during a receivership process, has asked for permission to shutter the four buildings, according to a report in the Lincoln Journal Star.
The affected buildings include two skilled nursing facilities — Wausa Care and Rehabilitation Center and and Sorensen Care and Rehabilitation Center — as well as the Sidney Care and Rehabilitation Center, which has both nursing and assisted living facilities.
Klaasmeyer and Associates pointed to low census in its request, according to the Journal Star report, with the Wausa Care building only maintaining an average occupancy of 15 residents since the receiver took over; the Sidney facilities had about 30 people on a daily basis.
Wausa Care has 42 certified beds and a one-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), while Sidney Care has space for 41 — and a two-star rating.
“At the Sorensen Care and Rehabilitation Center in Omaha, court records show that the 44 residents have already been relocated to other facilities because of problems with uncontrollable water temperatures and potential asbestos contamination,” the Journal Star reported.
Skyline Healthcare dominated the negative headlines in the nursing home business last year, collapsing in spectacular fashion after rising from seemingly nowhere to eventually own more than 100 buildings across the Midwest. The Wood Ridge, N.J.-based company’s rise and fall prompted concerns about a lack of transparency among nursing home owners, with the Philadelphia Inquirer discovering that the chain’s entire operations were based in a tiny office above a pizzeria.
Several states — including Nebraska, Kansas, and Pennsylvania — were forced to install new operators at Skyline buildings as both employees and vendors went unpaid. In the months since, some of the former Skyline SNFs have hit the marketplace, with buyers seeing turnaround potential, though the receiver in charge of the firm’s South Dakota buildings moved late last year to close a pair of SNFs amid funding issues.
A district court must approve Klaasmeyer and Associates’ proposal to close the four Nebraska facilities, the Journal Star reported, though the company has already given residents 60 days’ notice of an impending closure. A spokesperson for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services told the publication that the employees at the facilities will have the opportunity to transfer to another Klaasmeyer-operated building, while the receiver will also be responsible for placing the affected residents in new nursing homes.
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