Potential health center buyer ID’d

After a five-month process during which it became known that Washington County Health Center would be up for sale, the board of commissioners announced Thursday Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia is the likely candidate to make a nearly $27 million purchase.
“We have no intentions of coming in and providing anything but the utmost quality of care, as we do in all of our facilities,” said Lisa Sofia, president and chief executive officer of Premier, in a phone interview.
Sofia toured Washington County Health Center in the spring. “What a wonderfully presented facility,” she said. “It was very, very impressive, a well-run, well-maintained, clean and well-run facility.
“We are so honored to be chosen to be the people who are going to carry the torch of the Washington County home, earning trust, partnering and taking Washington to the next level.”
Born from a tradition of county homes being a refuge for the poor since the 1800s, the 288-bed Washington County Health Center could be owned and operated by a private, for-profit entity for the first time as soon as this fall. It will have to be renamed, but Sofia said coming up with a new identity will be a collaboration between the new owners and health center staff. “Washington,” she said, will be included in the new name.
The health center has been operating in the red since 2012, costing county taxpayers about $9 million in subsidies since then.
Mark Stewart, the Harrisburg attorney handling the sale on behalf of the commissioners, said Premier’s nursing homes that were once county facilities “average 78 percent Medicaid residents, which supports a core tenet of Premier’s mission – caring for the indigent.”
A news release generated by the county commissioners said, “In addition to a strong purchase price, Premier pledged to maintain access to the facility for Medicaid residents and offer all of the health center’s current staff first consideration in employment.”
The sale would be a huge windfall for the county treasury, and Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said that when the sale is finalized, he expects the county to receive a lump sum, because all three finalists had that ability.
There have been preliminary discussions about what to do with the windfall, but when it arrives, Maggi said he expects it to be “parked in an interest-bearing instrument until we decide what we want to do with it.” The possibilities include infrastructure, facility repairs and economic development.
“Right now, that money is not designated for any certain area,” Maggi said.
Meetings and discussions between Premier and various health center stakeholders will be taking place, Sofia said, as early as next week.
“We will work closely with the staff, residents and families so they get to know us,” Sofia said. “To eliminate levels of anxiety and fear, we will work with the facility over the course of the summer.”
Kathy Shaner, a Service Employees International Union/Healthcare representative who was among those who lobbied unsuccessfully to avert the sale of the health center, said after Thursday’s commissioners meeting that at SEIU executive board meetings at the state level, she heard “Premier is the better choice.”
A committee appointed in conjunction with an eventual sale visited a Premier facility, the 220-bed Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The former Butler County nursing home in Butler was sold three years ago for slightly more than $20 million. The Medicare.gov website gives Sunnyview an overall “above average” rating of four stars out of a possible five, which it also attained for health inspections. For staffing, however, it received just two stars, considered “below average,” and for quality measures, three stars, or “average.”
Washington County Health Center has received four stars – above average – across the board in all categories.
Sofia called the evaluations “a flawed system.”
“When they come in to do a survey, they ask for the last two weeks of staffing, which may include holidays, vacations and fluctuations in patient census,” she said.
The survey visits are unannounced.
“Every single one of our facilities are staffed appropriately,” Sofia said. “We have never received a violation or deficiency for inadequate staff.”
Premier recently purchased the Schuylkill County home and is preparing to buy the Armstrong County home.
Other potential purchasers identified in early March by their response to the county’s advertisement of the health center were Grane Associates LP of Pittsburgh; 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 health center shares a Hickory Ridge Road address with Tyler Technologies Inc., which conducted the recent countywide property reassessment, and because both the Tyler building, a former juvenile detention center, and the health center were considered tax-exempt, “Tyler didn’t do an in-depth study of exempt properties,” said Recorder of Deeds Debbie Bardella.
A nearly-90 acre tract that includes the former Tyler headquarters and the health center has a value of $3,934,500 for just the land. The two buildings have been assessed at $9,874,800.
“We would never hold to those numbers,” Bardella said. “They mean nothing, really. It will have to be reevaluated when it goes from tax-exempt to non-exempt status.”
The sale will trigger an in-house valuation and, Bardella noted, “As a private entity, the buyer has a right to appeal if it is not satisfied.”
Stewart said the county will draw up covenants related to the land that will require that it be used solely as a health center for the next 15 years.