Veterans home may go private

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's first veterans home, now being built in Boulder City, may be run by a private company and not by the state, it was revealed Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the issue is being discussed by legislative leaders and a decision will be made by the end of the session.

Raggio said some lawmakers are looking at following the lead of Georgia, which has hired a private firm to operate its veterans home.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has proposed that Employers Insurance Co. of Nevada, a quasi-state agency, become private. He wants to turn the medical care at all of the state prisons over to a private company.

The state already contracts with Corrections Corporation of America for operation of the women's prison in North Las Vegas. A private company provides medical care for inmates at the state prison in Ely.

The 180-bed veterans home is scheduled to open in July 2000.

The issue arose at a meeting of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee when state Veterans Affairs Commissioner Chuck Abbott sought to use $19,791 collected from the sale of veterans license plates to hire an administrator for the rest of this fiscal year.

Abbott said the state was already "behind the curve" in such things as setting the specifications for the equipment, preparing a plan for hiring the staff and starting the procedure to get the home licensed.

Abbott, who is leaving his job, said he doesn't have the expertise to perform those functions and needs a full-time nursing home administrator, to be paid $50,000 a year.

Even if the home is operated by a private company, Abbott said, the state must have a full-time monitor to oversee its functioning. He said the administrator could do that job.

Abbott received support from Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, who is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Commission. He said it was "real necessary" to get somebody hired to oversee the construction of the home.

But Raggio said a full-time administrator should not be hired until a decision is made whether to privatize the operation. The Interim Finance Committee decided to defer action on Abbott's request to use the funds.

The state Public Works Board, which is overseeing the construction of the home, said it could hire a medical consultant to take care of many of the duties such as ordering the equipment but would need a full time person later in the project to do the other work.