By PAUL LORENZ
paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com
McLEANSBORO — Hamilton Memorial Hospital District is actively looking for a buyer for its nursing home, the district’s chief executive officer said Tuesday.
Hospital officials have been meeting with Hamilton Memorial Nursing Center employees and residents’ families over the past week, apprising them of the situation, CEO Randy Dauby said.
And several members of the community expressed their concerns at the hospital district board meeting Tuesday night.
The nursing center is losing $35,000 to $40,000 per month, and the hospital district board has been looking at its options, Dauby said.
The best option, he said, appears to be to sell the facility, to keep the nursing center’s residents and employees in place. There are several nursing home chains in Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois, and hospital officials hope to attract interest among them to buy the local nursing center and keep it open, Dauby said.
“The last thing we would want to do would be to have to close it,” he said. “It’s a very tough decision.”
Hamilton Memorial, a 60-bed, intermediate-care facility, accepts private-pay and Medicaid patients. The nursing center currently has 47 residents.
Medicaid is responsible to pay for the care of almost three-fourths of those residents, Dauby said, which means the local facility — like others due payment from the state — is receiving payment late.
Another option for the district, he said, would be to convert Hamilton Memorial to a skilled-care nursing home, which would allow it to take Medicare patients as well.
However, that conversion would take an investment by the district of $150,000 to $200,000 with no guarantees that the move would help the nursing center’s financial situation, Dauby said.
Contributing to the nursing center’s situation is the simple fact that people are living longer, Dauby added. They are outliving their personal financial resources, with more and more going on Medicaid, he said.
The ongoing expansion/renovation project at the hospital is not a factor in the nursing center’s financial situation, he added.
“It is not causing the nursing home to lose money,” he said.
The district’s last option, he said, would be to close the nursing center.
“No decision has been made to close it,” he said.
