Summerlin nursing home to stay open after court ruling

Grace Leong

Monday, Aug. 20, 2001 | 11:16 a.m.

Liz Biggs, a 63-year old woman bed-ridden at a Las Vegas nursing and rehabilitation home with multiple sclerosis, is in seventh heaven.

Just 13 days ago, Biggs thought she would have to move from the home, the Manor, after it announced on Aug. 7 it would close Sept. 7 because of financial difficulties.

But last week a court stepped in and appointed a receiver to run the Manor, which is at 8501 Del Webb Blvd. in Summerlin. This will likely keep the center open until it is sold.

"I was devastated. I couldn't handle it. My roommate's daughter was helping me look for another place. It's just one of those things you put at the back of your mind and pray to God about," Biggs said.

The center will stay open because of legal efforts by the Manor's largest creditor, Michigan-based Key Corporate Capital Inc., which provided more than $16 million for the 225-bed nursing home's construction.

Clark County District Judge Valorie Vega last week appointed Tutera Healthcare Services LLC of Kansas City, Mo., to run the Manor until it's sold.

Tutera manages more than 70 skilled nursing homes and has experience managing homes that are in financial distress or have trouble complying with government regulations, a spokesman for the home said.

Key Corporate, which sued the Manor, its owner, W.D. Development Co. Ltd. and the loan's guarantors, Morton Weisberg and Paul Dennis, in Clark County District Court on Aug. 14, sought to foreclose on the property because the defendants allegedly haven't been able to make payments on the loan and are unwilling to continue drawing on their own financial resources to meet the home's operating expenses.

Key Corporate fought the home's closure.

"If the Manor became non-operational, its value would greatly diminish, the collateral value under Key's security interest would be subject to material injury and loss, patients would have to be moved and disrupted and employees of the Manor would lose their employment positions and income," Key said in its lawsuit.

Warning signs about the two-year old Manor's financial health included several lawsuits since September 2000 by temporary staffing agencies and pharmaceutical companies seeking to recover allegedly unpaid bills.

Tom Feeback, the Manor's spokesman, attributed the Aug. 7 decision to close to W.D. Development's inability to obtain additional funding from commercial and private sources or a potential sale or lease of the home.

Another major factor behind the Medicaid-funded Manor's financial woes was a citation some eight months ago by the Nevada State Health Division, Bureau of Licensure and Certification for alleged "substandard quality of care."

The state agency determines if Medicaid-funded nursing homes in Nevada have complied with state and federal laws to be eligible to receive assistance from Healthcare Financing and Policy, the Medicaid funding arm of the Nevada State Department of Human Resources.

"The citation, which is estimated to have cost the Manor between $700,000 to $1 million in Medicaid funding, lasted nearly six months. It wasn't the only issue but it was certainly an issue contributing to the Manor's problems," Feeback said.

He added: "Seventy percent of the Manor's residents are on Medicaid, while the remaining patients are private. Our room and board rates for private patients are $125 a day. That rate doesn't include medication. Our Medicaid rates average $74-$259 a day.'

A Nevada State Health Division spokeswoman said the agency inspected the Manor in January and found "certain areas of deficiencies which (it) identified as substandard quality of care."

But Feeback disputed the government's finding. "We feel that's not happening."

Biggs agreed. "For the past six or seven years when I was at another nursing home, I'd always felt like I was in an institution. This is the first place I feel like I'm home."

Lisa Jones, a spokeswoman for the State Health Division, which regulates some 46 skilled nursing homes in Nevada -- including 26 in the Las Vegas area -- said: "The Manor did have remedies imposed including the denial of payments for new admissions to the facility.

"That means the Manor (wasn't) reimbursed by Healthcare Financing for new patients who are Medicaid-eligible. Our intent was to prevent other residents from being affected by deficient practices in the center and to give the center an opportunity to fix the problem."

"Since that survey, we've done several followups in April and June, and there was improvement. In the last followup in July, the Manor was back in substantial compliance."

Michael Jones, a management analyst with Healthcare Financing, said the Manor now receives about $350,000 a month in Medicaid reimbursement. "But that rate fluctuates depending on occupancy. We also establish Medicaid reimbursement based on a property rate that's based on the nursing home's construction cost among other factors."

Feeback said that after the Aug. 7 decision to close the center, the Manor transferred some 40 of its 150 patients to other nursing homes. But he said the home, now operating under Tutera, is now accepting new patients. He said the nursing home, which lost about 10 nurses after the Aug. 7 announcement, now has between 175 and 200 workers.

Meanwhile, three lawsuits over financial issues against the Manor are pending. A fourth resulted in a judgment against the home last year.

Pharmerica, which sued the Manor on Sep. 26 to recover $65,896 in unpaid fees for pharmaceutical products, won a $75,065 judgment that included legal costs on Nov. 21.

American Nursing Services Inc. sued the Manor on June 14, alleging it defaulted on a $65,107 payment for staffing services. But the Manor disputed the staffing agency's claims.

Las Vegas pharmacy Resource Healthcare LLC doing business as Resource Pharmaceutical Services sued the Manor on July 20, alleging it failed to pay $70,101 for pharmaceutical drugs, supplies and equipment.

Healthpro Staffing LLC sued on Aug. 9 to appoint a receiver for the Manor and to recover a $117,220 payment for temporary nursing staff services provided. Healthpro, which accused the Manor of "negligently failing to disclose its lack of funding and its inability to make the required payments," said a court-appointed receiver would ensure that the defendant doesn't misuse the funds.

Jim Crotty, Healthpro Staffing's owner, said his company provided the Manor with about 10 temporary nurses a day for about 10 weeks since March 1, but was allegedly paid only about $18,078 of a total bill of about $135,298.