EAST PROVIDENCE – After implementing a “Hail Mary” plan to save its nursing home, Linn Health & Rehabilitation will be closing its doors in July.
Earlier this week, the cash-strapped, nonprofit nursing home notified the R.I. Department of Health of its intent to close, and began the process of notifying its more than 100 staff members, 48 residents and their families of the decision to discontinue its operations on July 20.
“We are extremely saddened to have to close our doors after a 53-year history of caring for the long-term care and rehabilitation needs of older adults,” said Jamie Sanford, administrator of Linn Health & Rehabilitation. “We tried everything possible to keep our doors open. Now, we turn our focus to ensuring the safe relocation of residents and the continuation of appropriate medical and nursing care until all transfers are complete. This closure is a challenging time for our residents, our staff, our families and everyone involved in the operation of our nursing home.”
The closure will have no effect on Aldersbridge Communities’ independent or assisted living communities and those remain fiscally solvent.
Linn Health will be working with local nursing home and assisted living providers, the R.I. Department of Health and the state ombudsman’s office to relocate residents to other nursing and assisted living homes.
Each resident will receive a list of available locations with capacity for admissions.
Linn says it will keep staff employed as long as possible while residents are relocated. Layoffs will be made by seniority, starting with the least senior staff members.
Since the first quarter of 2023 Linn Health had been losing $100,000 per month. Facing inflation, rising food and utility costs, high temporary staffing agency fees and low state Medicaid reimbursement rates.
In late 2023 Linn Health launched a campaign for a “Christmas Miracle” to prevent the nursing home from relocating its residents or layoff staff members.
But it never came.
Linn Health and its parent organization Aldersbridge Communities came up with a solution to convert one floor of the nursing home into an affordable assisted living memory care program. This would allow Linn Health to bill Medicaid at a higher rate of reimbursement, and would also be likely to attract private-pay residents.
However, state approval for the application for the memory care program was slower than expected and time has almost run out for the nursing home to keep covering its losses, said Richard Gamache, chief executive officer of Aldersbridge Communities.
"We can no longer afford to wait, so closure is the inevitable and responsible step,” Gamache said. “We have made tireless pleas to the state for emergency gap funding to keep us afloat until our application can be approved, but to no avail.”
As of May 21, Linn Health’s licensure application to establish The Loft at Linn is still pending with the R.I. Department of Health and Human Services. Unless a “large windfall donation” of cash comes before July 20 there are no plans to reopen Linn Health & Rehabilitation. Linn Health said it still expects to become a licensed assisted living memory care program, and it may consider expanding The Loft at Linn and inviting staff members who lost jobs to return, beginning with the most senior people.
Linn Health & Rehabilitation was named a 2024 "Best Nursing Home’ and ‘High-Performing" short-term rehabilitation home in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
But now it joins the six other nursing homes in Rhode Island that have closed since the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years three others also declared bankruptcy and one recently downsized by 50 beds.
About 80% of Linn Health’s residents rely on Medicaid, and low reimbursement rates is a “major factor” in the closure, Sanford said.
“While we are honored to care for this vulnerable segment of the elderly population, reimbursement rates as set by the State of Rhode Island don’t sufficiently cover the costs associated with delivering the services that we provide,” Sanford said. “It’s beyond disappointing that so many nursing homes like ours have to close because of low reimbursement rates, and that advocacy to get the rate structure to where it needs to be is futile.”
SEIU 1199 New England, which represents about 100 workers at Linn Health, in a statement criticized Gov. Daniel J. McKee for denying emergency funding the union said Linn Health requested, while providing almost $80 million in Medicaid rate increases. The union said the rate increases will begin in July and primarily benefit out-of-state companies that own nursing facilities.
Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for McKee, said last fall Gamache and McKee discussed the possibility of "bridge funding" to provide more support to nursing homes before the proposed increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates in October 2024.
To help Linn and other nursing homes waiting for the Medicaid rate change, McKee then added $10 million in State Fiscal Recovery Funds to his proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
The $10 million would be available to nursing home providers from July to the October rate change. It would also be distributed to nursing facilities based on the number of Medicaid beds days from the 2022 facility cost reports, provided at least 80% is dedicated to direct care workers.
State law requires reimbursement rates to be reviewed every three years, but this hasn’t happened since 2012, nursing homes are being paid rates based on the cost of care in 2011.
If approved by state lawmakers Medicaid reimbursement rates would increase by 14.5% in October. This would provide an additional $36 per resident each day, bringing Linn Health’s average reimbursement rate from $255 to $292 per resident each day while the actual cost of care is $411.
(SUBS paragraphs 18 to tighten and 19-21 to include comment from governor's office.)
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
