PROVIDENCE – Two Rhode Island nursing homes have filed for receivership, declaring their “inability to pay debts as they come due.”
However, neither residents nor employees will feel any impact from either home’s economic woes, said Jeremy Savage of Savage Law Partners LLP, the attorney who has been appointed to be the temporary receiver.
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Trinity Health and Rehabilitation Center in Woonsocket and Hebert Nursing Home in Smithfield, filed requests June 20 citing financial difficulties. Both facilities are held by JBF Healthcare Management Inc., which in turn is jointly owned by Jeffrey A. Barnhill and James V. Flanagan.
Representatives from both Barnhill and Flanagan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trinity serves 138 residents; Hebert houses 112.
Savage said both institutions have relatively healthy balance sheets and are expected to remain open for business, though possibly under new ownership.
“The books aren’t bad,” said Savage, “Sometimes receiverships are liquidations – you go in and call the auctioneer. But not in these cases.”
“These are not desperate assets, these are really strong facilities,” Savage continued. “And the people I’m talking to as possible investors or buyers are the real deal.”
Savage, who described the facilities as “critical health care assets,” said financial restructuring under receivership was necessary because of the vulnerable patients the homes serve.
“You have to go out of your way to make sure those populations are protected,” Savage said. “But ultimately, receivership in these cases is tantamount to remortgaging your house. The comparison is a gross simplification, but it’s not that dissimilar.”
John Gage is CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, which represents dozens of nursing homes in the Ocean State.
Gage said the nursing home industry has been rocked due to chronic underfunding by Medicaid, a lack of trained nurses, and the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic.
Six nursing homes have closed in the past two years and three are now in receivership, Gage said. “There are only 79 remaining facilities in the state,” Gage said. “There were 85.”
Joseph Wendelken, spokesman for the R.I. Department of Health, said RIDOH is working closely with Savage to assure that the continuity of operations at Trinity and Hebert is maintained.
Gage said Trinity and Hebert are RIHCA members with “good reputations.”
“There are no concerns about the clinical operations at either facility.”
Pawtucket Falls Healthcare Center was forced into receivership in May 2023 by Attorney General Peter F. Neronha after months of documented health and safety concerns.
Gage said that Medicaid reimburses less than 80% for home-provided services. An ongoing workforce shortage, partly triggered by burnt-out nurses who resigned during the pandemic, has driven up home costs by requiring expensive overtime for nurses and aides, bonuses, and the outsourcing labor to agency personnel providers.
“Coupled with inflation, it’s created a disaster,” Gage said.
Contact PBN staff writer at Wood@PBN.com
