Long-term care operator QHC Facilities is selling its portfolio, which includes eight SNFs and two assisted living facilities, to Cedar Health Group – just a few months after the company filed for bankruptcy due to “crippling” staffing and retention issues.
QHC Management, the company that managed the Iowa facilities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy before the end of 2021 following some of the largest federal fines assessed on any skilled nursing operator in the state.
A federal bankruptcy judge gave the green light to the sale this week, as first reported by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Married owners Jerry and Nancy Voyna took over the business after working “within the company home office” for 20-plus years, QHC’s website said. Court filings show Nancy Voyna as CEO, upon her husband’s death in June. The group was founded in 1977 as Quality Health Care Specialists Corp.
Their son, who inherited the company after the couple both died, pursued the sale.
A holding company based in Lakewood, N.J., Cedar Health Group is part of a network of companies run by real estate developer Mark Tress, who has a history of acquiring distressed properties, according to the news report.
Cedar Holdings LLC purchased the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health toward the end of 2019, and, at the time, Tress said his company owned about 12 hospitals and health care facilities in several states, though he declined to name any, a Palm Beach Post article reports.
Under the terms of the sale, claims against QHC by creditors will not carry over to the Cedar Health Group, though creditors may pursue the claims with QHC, according to the Iowa-based publication.
QHC claimed $1 million in assets and $26.3 million in liabilities in its bankruptcy filings.
The operator told the court its annual revenue for 2020 was $30.4 million, and $17.3 million for 2021 through the 10 months ending Oct. 31, Skilled Nursing News previously reported. While federal pandemic relief helped somewhat with COVID-related losses and expenses, state relief was “limited,” QHC said in court documents.
QHC allegedly still owes $703,377 in federal fines across all of its facilities. The company’s Fort Dodge Villa location alone was reportedly fined upwards of $685,000 following a state inspection citing “serious deficiencies” in resident care.
QHC has attempted to collect payment for care from its residents since 2018, despite fines tied to deficient care. The group sued more than a dozen of its own residents, reports said, anywhere between $3,000 and $39,000.
Requests by Skilled Nursing News for further comment from Cedar Health Group were not immediately returned.
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