Vencor will open second LV hospital

Grace Leong

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:24 a.m.

Vencor Inc. of Louisville, Ky., which renamed itself Kindred Healthcare Inc. after emerging from bankruptcy in March, said it expects to open a second hospital in Las Vegas in September.

Vencor, which currently operates Vencor Hospital-Las Vegas, a 52-bed operation, said it will run both hospitals under the Kindred logo as part of a nationwide initiative.

Vencor, which operates more than 300 skilled nursing centers and 58 long-term acute care hospitals nationwide, said its current 120-worker Vencor Hospital-Las Vegas on Sahara Avenue will be renamed Kindred Hospital-Las Vegas Sahara Campus.

The second hospital, a 92-bed center at 2250 E. Flamingo Road, which was originally scheduled to open in 1998, will open in early September under the name Kindred Hospital-Las Vegas Flamingo Campus, said Linn Billingsley, Vencor Las Vegas' chief executive officer.

"Thirty days prior to the opening of the second hospital, we will ask our patients if they are interested to transfer to the new hospital," she said. "We will add staff as need be. For the new hospital, we need at least 120 workers in total. But initially, we will need just 80 workers for 20 patients."

Construction on the second Las Vegas hospital was delayed after Vencor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in September 1999. Vencor said its 1999 revenue was hurt by the government's revamped Medicare reimbursement system.

"With the advent of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which is a federally mandated reduction in Medicare reimbursements, the company's revenues dropped as much 25 percent in Fall 1998 and the company wasn't able to sustain the debt load it was carrying," Billingsley said.

Vencor emerged from bankruptcy after its landlord, Ventas, agreed, as part of Vencor's reorganization plan, to pay $219 million to settle allegations of Medicare and Medicaid abuse, the Justice Department said. This settlement includes $104.5 million to resolve civil claims that Vencor knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and the military's health care program.

Vencor also has two other Las Vegas nursing centers -- each with about 100 beds -- Las Vegas Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center at 2832 S. Maryland Parkway and Torrey Pines Care Center on 1701 S. Torrey Pines Drive.