Six potential health center buyers emerge
Washington County’s sale of the health center in Arden, Chartiers Township, cleared another hurdle this week when six firms responded to an advertisement to sell the facility.
Potential purchasers are Grane Associates LP of Pittsburgh; Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia; Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services Group of Hewlett, N.Y.; SolaMed Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Homestead Group of (Newton) New Jersey LLC; and Stone Barn Holdings of Amelia Island, Fla.
“The proposals will be carefully reviewed well beyond the price proposed, and the potential buyers will be fully investigated,” said Washington County Commission Vice Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan in a news release Wednesday.
Now that the companies have come forward, negotiations begin with those who are interested in buying the 288-bed facility. No potential purchase prices have been revealed.
“Price is only one part of the evaluation,” said commission Chairman Larry Maggi.
The health center achieved a four-star rating from the state, and any entity submitting a proposal “shall clearly state its willingness to accept and serve Medicaid residents,” according to the online advertisement.
Prospective buyers also were required to identify the percentage of their existing resident population “by payor class.” It must identify any means- or asset-based admission requirements at its existing facilities, as well as any such requirements it intends to impose at the health center, or a statement that it will not impose such requirements on health center residents.
There also are conditions of the sale regarding health center employees. A recent count showed 305 employees, including 276 full-timers and 29 part-timers. More than 200 are members of Service Employees International Union/Healthcare.
The county also set among its policy goals “a fair and equitable transition to the private sector for county employees, including ensuring current employees” receive first consideration as employees of the new operator. A would-be buyer must describe its experience in retaining the staff of other facilities it has acquired, and address in detail its plans for those covered by the current union contract. It must state whether it has any union employees and which bargaining unit represents them. It also must adhere to the county’s nondiscrimination policies.
Proposals offering a more certain commitment to retain and hire health center employees will be more heavily weighted in the evaluation.
“The next step is that Eckert Seamans is going to check all the proposals to make sure they met all the requirements,” said Scott Fergus, Washington County director of administration, of the law firm that is handling the legalities of the sale of the health center.
An Eckert Seamans attorney will now summarize each proposal for the commissioners.
The county has reserved the right to interview representatives of the firms and visit the firms’ facilities. Who will visit has yet to be determined, Fergus said.
A check of online information available on Grane listed five personal-care facilities, Amber Hills, House, Springs, Terrace and Woods; and a dozen skilled nursing facilities, Altoona Center for Nursing Care and Cambria, Colonial Park, Greensburg, HarmarVillage, Harmon House, Highland Park, Kittanning, LaurelWood, Providence, Riverside and Woodhaven care centers.
Premier lists Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Butler; five facilities in Philadelphia; two in New York; and one in Massachusetts.
Representatives from Comprehensive Healthcare Management, which purchased the former Friendship Ridge nursing home from Beaver County in 2014, were the first to tour the Washington County Health Center after the county advertised its search for potential buyers.
As Washington County Health Center employees pointed out in February, the Medicare.gov “Nursing Home Compare” website gives the former Friendship Ridge facility, now Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver, an overall rating of one star on a five-star scale. Health inspections and quality measures earned two of five stars, according to Medicare.gov, which is below average. Staffing received just one star, which, like the overall rating, was listed as “much below average.”
Stone Barn Holdings is listed online as a private investment holding company.
Information on SolaMed and Homestead Group was not immediately available.
The county continues to bargain with Service Employees International Union Local 668, which represents rank-and-file county employees, and SEIU Healthcare.
The workers represented by those unions continue to work under the terms of contracts that expired Dec. 31, 2016. Due to the sale of the health center, talks with workers there are known as “impact bargaining.”
The six responses to the county’s request for proposals and qualification were received at the offices of Eckert Seamans in Harrisburg, and were opened Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with Washington County officials. The deadline for final proposals is April 7.
Included in the sale is approximately 19.7 acres of land at 36 Old Hickory Ridge Road. At their Feb. 16 meeting, the commissioners entered into a contract with Widmer Engineering to survey the total amount of county-owned land beginning at the corner of Old Hickory Ridge and North Main Street Extension. The tract, which measures about 49 acres, is to be subdivided and documented.
The health center’s finances were last in the black in 2011, and it has lost more than $9 million in revenue since then. This year’s subsidy of the facility could reach $4 million, according to estimates.