Deal saves Lakeside
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BY ROD STETZER rstetzer@chippewa.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 10:35 AM CST
Lakeside Health is being nursed back to good health, thanks to a deal announced today that will keep what was once the Chippewa Valley's largest nursing home operating.
The deal means many of the 275 jobs that were set to be lost with the announced closing Jan. 31 can be saved. Just as important, over 100 Lakeside residents, including those on the ventilator ward, will be able to stay at the facility.
The new owner of a slimmed-down version of Lakeside is a familiar one.
Tommy Davidson of Ooltewah, Tenn. bought the Rutledge Home, 300 Bridgewater Ave., Chippewa Falls in March 2004. Davidson is also one of the owners of Dove Healthcare Nursing and Rehabilitation in Eau Claire. He bought the struggling Eau Claire County Health Care Center in 1997 and renamed it Dove Health Care. The nursing home was named the 2003 “Facility of the Year” by the Wisconsin Health Care Association, the same award given in 1999 to what was then called Lakeside Nursing and Rehabilitation.
Davidson takes over operation of Lakeside on Dec. 1.
The state Department of Health and Family Services signed off on the deal today. That followed negotiations Monday between agency officials, Davidson, representatives of Gov. James Doyle, state Rep. Jeff Wood and state Sen. Dave Zien.
Wood, who has frequently criticized the governor, said Doyle was instrumental in getting the deal done, twisting the arms of reluctant agency members.
“He forced this through. We wouldn't have got it without Gov. Doyle,” Wood said.
Under the deal:
n The nursing home at 7590 156h St., Chippewa Falls will be able to retain 109 nursing home beds, about a third of the beds it had at its peak of operation. Davidson can then distribute another 20 beds between Rutledge and Dove Health as he chooses.
n The state agrees to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for ventilator patients from $450 to $700 a day for the first three months of care under a pilot program. The rate will drop to $550 after that to allow patients to continue care from home.
Wood said Lakeside's ventilator program, run by Dr. Mark Lindsay, is one of the most successful in the United States. The majority of ventilator patients at Lakeside are weaned off the ventilator within 90 days. Continuing the pilot program is contingent on maintaining a 60 percent success rate in weaning patients from ventilators. The national average is less than 20 percent.
Wood said the pilot program is contingent on it saving money for the state. “This will be a model for the whole country,” he predicted.
“When you have the kind of groundbreaking innovation we've seen from Dr. Lindsay's ventilator unit providing such a vital public service, government should recognize that and step forward to encourage it,” Zien said.
If Lakeside had closed, the nursing home's ventilator patients would have had to move to units in the Twin Cities or in southern Wisconsin.
n Davidson will remodel the Rutledge Home, and will receive a $72,000 per new bed reimbursement for the construction.
Last year Davidson bought Rutledge Home, a nursing facility that has been in business since May 1913. The home was put up for sale in January 2003, after losing $1 million in 2002 due to poor investment performance and inadequate Medicaid reimbursement.
According to the Baraboo News Republic, Davidson has been involved in talks for months about possibly buying the Sauk County Health Care Center near Reedsburg.
Lakeside owner Extendicare Homes said in September it was closing Lakeside as of Jan. 31, 2006 after losing over $5 million on the facility in the past year. It was expected 275 jobs would be lost and 166 residents moved to other facilities with Lakeside's closing.
Under the ownership of Extendicare, Lakeside became riddled with 36 state and federal violations between January 2002 and August 2004. One reason was the high staff turnover rate at Lakeside. In 2002, the turnover rate for full-time LPNs at Lakeside reached an astounding 146 percent, four times the state average.
The state launched an investigation after the August 2003 death of a female Lakeside resident due to sepsis, a blood infection linked to bedsores. That investigation resulted earlier this year in a record $2.3 million settlement with the state and a related $360,467 forfeiture levied Sept. 16.
Extendicare lost its license to operate Lakeside and in August 2004, contracted with Benedictine Health System to run the facility. But Benedictine, which has a sparkling record at other nursing homes, was unable to turn the facility around. During Benedictine's tenure, Lakeside received five immediate jeopardy citations, the most severe a nursing home can receive.
The facility that's now known as Lakeside began operation as a county-owned nursing home. In April 1971, the Golden Age Home (now called Lakeside South) opened as a partial replacement for the county home. Lakeside opened in October 1976, and the county nursing home then closed. In June 1986, Heyde Health bought Golden Age and Lakeside. The Golden Age name was eventually dropped and the two connected complexes became known as Lakeside Nursing and Rehabilitation. Heyde Health eventually sold the facility to Extendicare, which has owned the facility since January 1996.
Lakeside's continued existence should be a big boost for Chippewa County taxpayers.
In 2004, the value of Lakeside and its nearly 13 acres was assessed by the county at $4,712,000. Extendicare, going under the name of Unicare Homes, Inc., paid $93,772.58 in property taxes to the county in 2004.
Reach Rod Stetzer at rstetzer@chippewa.com.
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