Two struggling skilled nursing facilities are on track to be sold to a Massachusetts-based company, reigniting the debate over whether businesses looking to maximize profits should be involved in providing health care services.
Senior living company Pointe Group Care LLC, also known as AdviniaCare, is moving to purchase the Oak Hill Center for Rehabilitation & Health Care, a 129-bed skilled nursing facility in Pawtucket, and the Bannister Center for Rehabilitation & Health Care, a 161-bed skilled nursing facility in Providence, from another for-profit company, Centers Health Care.
In January, the R.I. Health Services Council recommended that the R.I. Department of Health approve the $1.49 million transaction, and that's what the RIDOH did on Jan. 31. Now AdviniaCare, which is headquartered in Stoughton, Mass., needs to obtain licensing to operate in Rhode Island.
AdviniaCare and Centers Health Care did not respond to PBN’s request for comment.
But the for-profit acquisition has divided many in the nursing home sector, some of whom argue it is key to keeping two struggling facilities open and others who question AdviniaCare's track record operating other facilities.
John Gage, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, said in testimony that AdviniaCare has been managing the two nursing homes since July 2023, and the company has done a good job and regulators have found no deficiencies categorized as “substandard quality of care” or “immediate jeopardy.”
With the closure of seven nursing facilities in Rhode Island since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and an eighth preparing to close, Gage said, the survival of Oak Hill Center and Bannister Center is all that more important and AdviniaCare can ensure that.
Other supporters of the transaction include residents of the nursing centers, PACE Organization of Rhode Island, and CharterCare Health Partners and Service Employees International Union Local 1199 New England, which represents workers at Bannister Center.
Jesse Martin, executive director of SEIU 1199NE, said AdviniaCare’s representatives have been “open, transparent and genuinely willing to collaborate with front-line caregivers.” But it's crucial that conditions are in place to ensure the company is held accountable for its promises, he said.
Opponents of the transaction have raised concerns about AdviniaCare’s track record operating 82 nursing centers in seven other states.
According to Kathleen Gerard, director for Advocates for Better Care in Rhode Island, AdviniaCare’s facilities have received a combined 120 "immediate jeopardy" violations in the past three years. By comparison, Rhode Island’s 75 facilities have received 47 "immediate jeopardy" citations in the same period. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid assigns an “immediate jeopardy” for a situation where a nursing home puts residents at risk of serious injury or death.
Julia Harvey, the health care advocate for the R.I. Office of Attorney General also questioned AdviniaCare administrators using “related entities," companies run by the same owners that the nursing home hires for services and even own the real estate of a facility and charge rent. Problems arise when the related entities charge fees higher than market rates leading to profits getting diverted away from patient care and into owners’ pockets.
News reports indicate that AdviniaCare steered profits to related entities from some of AdviniaCare’s facilities in Massachusetts.
Gerard shared Harvey’s concerns. RIDOH noted in its approval that AdviniaCare said it will not use any affiliated entities and, if it does, those agreements must be approved by the department.
While Gerard is concerned about AdviniaCare’s track record, she acknowledged Centers Health Care’s record is not much better. She suggested that the Health Services Council add conditions requiring AdviniaCare to hire a third-party monitor if the facilities receive a certain number of violations. The council did not add these conditions, or the ones Harvey suggested, to its approval.
Centers Health Care was recently ordered to pay $45 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company stole $83 million of Medicaid, Medicare and other funds from New York facilities for personal gain. Meanwhile, both the Bannister Center and Oak Hill Center have earned two out of five stars and one out of five stars ratings, respectively, from Medicare because of their below-average health inspection, understaffing and quality measures in reports through the past three years.
