Low Medicaid reimbursement charges and the expectation of a necessity for costly updates had been two key components that led the administration and board of Saint Mary’s Dwelling of Erie to promote Saint Mary’s East.
Allen Bonace, president and CEO of Saint Mary’s, mentioned final week that the board is satisfied they’ve the precise purchaser with the precise experience and the wanted sources in New York-based Hill Valley Health Care.
However the monetary challenges, which Bonace outlined in a information convention, appear unlikely to go away.
Extra:Despite losing money for 5 years, selling Saint Mary’s East of Erie was ‘difficult’
On the prime of that listing is the Medicaid reimbursement charge, which might run as excessive as $450 a day in elements of Pennsylvania. That charge, which relies on each the variety of beds in a facility and the demographics of the neighborhood, is $218 a day at Saint Mary’s East, Bonace mentioned.
Due to one thing referred to as the price range adjustment issue, applied to steadiness the state price range, Saint Mary’s is reimbursed about 20% lower than the components would recommend. In consequence, the reimbursement charge of $218 is the same as about half of what a private-payer can be charged for a room.
“It boiled all the way down to funds,” Bonace mentioned. “Over time, it turned painfully obvious we must promote Saint Mary’s East. We did not have the monetary sources to proceed.”
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That raises questions on how issues might be any totally different for Hill Valley Healthcare.
The corporate, in any case, has agreed to keep up pay ranges and comparable advantages for current workers in Erie.
Shimmy Idels, chief working officer of Hill Valley, which lately closed on a deal to amass three Virginia nursing amenities for $21.7 million, provides an rationalization.
“A variety of it has to do with our buying energy,” he mentioned. “We’re a bigger group than Saint Mary’s and we’re, maybe, in a position to get what we want at a lesser worth so that allows us to supply the identical service for much less.”
With 10 nursing amenities, Hill Valley, which operates underneath quite a lot of totally different names, is bigger than 135-year-old Saint Mary’s, which was fashioned as a mission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
However the firm’s observe file is brief.
Whereas Idels mentioned he is personally been concerned in nursing residence administration for greater than 20 years, Hill Valley was fashioned about two years in the past, he mentioned.
Each Bonace and Idels mentioned their purpose is for residents of the Erie facility to expertise a seamless custom. Though new possession will not be affiliated with the Catholic church, that features the continuation of Catholic companies for residents who request them.
The identify will even change in some unspecified time in the future. The brand new facility will bear the identify Nightingale, named for nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale.
Sister Mary Drexler of the Sisters of Saint Joseph mentioned she’s snug that the power’s Catholic custom might be honored.
“It’s totally clear to me that the Catholic presence is just not going to be destroyed by the brand new consumers, that they will respect the people who’re there now and what their wants are,” Drexler mentioned.
Drexler additionally supplied her blessing to the sale in a broader sense.
“This has been a tricky choice. We’ve got gone via many months of the board attempting to make the choice that greatest matches who we’re.” she mentioned. “We predict Hill Valley has accomplished this. Whereas it is a unhappy second for us, it is one the place we see hope and promise for the longer term.”
Jim Martin may be reached at 870-1668 or at jmartin@timesnews.com. Observe him on Twitter at @ETNMartin.
