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Tag: skilled nursing

Harrisburg Jewish Home board sells senior care facility to real estate investment firm 

Non-profit senior care facility The Campus of the Jewish Home of Greater Harrisburg will be sold to New Jersey-based real estate investment firm, Tryko Partners. 

The board of The Campus of the Jewish Home of Greater Harrisburg announced the sale this week, citing a “persistent and increasing” gap between Medicaid reimbursement rates and the cost of caring for residents—challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic. 

The Jewish Home also pointed to persistent staffing shortages, which have limited the number of residents the home has been able to accept. 

The sale includes the organization’s campus at 4000 Linglestown Road, Lower Paxton Township, consisting of the Jewish Home’s 138-bed skilled nursing facility and 58-unit personal care home, known as The Residence. 

“This was a very difficult decision,” said Richard Spiegelman, president of the Jewish Home Board. “Because of the significant fiscal challenges we have faced as a stand-alone facility, we decided the best option for residents of the Jewish Home and Residence and the staff was to sell the facility to an organization with the scale and resources to uphold the high standards we have followed for 40 years.” 

Tryko, which expects to complete the purchase of the property by March, currently owns 6,000 skilled nursing/assisted living beds across the country. The facilities are supported by Marquis Health Consulting Services, a nursing home consulting company. 

“The Jewish Home and Residence provides outstanding care for the Jewish community and larger population,” said Uri Kahanow, director of acquisitions at Tryko. “Our mission is to carry that forward and quickly earn the trust of residents, their families and the dedicated care team at the Jewish Home and Residence.”   

Pa. skilled nursing facilities given new guidance for reopening after a COVID-19 outbreak

 

The Pennsylvania Department of Health released updated guidance for when skilled nursing facilities can reopen to visitors and when they should test their staff and residents for COVID-19.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced the recommendations on Thursday, noting that the state continues to practice a measured approach for reopening nursing homes.

The department’s updates on testing and compassionate care-giving follow recommendations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We developed this guidance through collective input from stakeholders, interagency partners, industry leaders and facility representatives to allow safe caregiving, in addition to visitations with strong public health measures to balance the mental and physical well-being of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents,” She said in a press release.

Prior to reopening the building to visitors, skilled nursing facilities must develop an implementation plan that includes plans for comprehensive testing, isolating or cohorting residents diagnosed with the virus, screening protocols, staffing and supplies, visitation and communal dining and activities.

Facilities with no new outbreaks among staff or residents for two weeks after implementing their plan can begin to allow visitors, prioritizing patients with diseases causing cognitive decline and residents expressing feelings of loneliness.

After six weeks with no new COVID-19 cases, facilities can resume conducting activities with residents, non-essential personnel are allowed to enter the facility with screening and indoor visitation is allowed in specific zones in the facility.

The updated guidance also asks skilled nursing facilities to give routine COVID-19 testing to asymptomatic residents and staff depending on the positivity rate of the virus in their county over the last seven days.

Facilities in counties with a low COVID-19 activity rate at 5% or lower, are asked to give routine testing to asymptomatic staff members every four weeks.

Facilities with moderate activity with a COVID-19 activity rate at 5% to 10% are encouraged to test asymptomatic residents with outside contact in the past two weeks and give weekly tests to asymptomatic staff.

Finally, facilities in counties with a percentage over 10% should give weekly testing to all asymptomatic residents with outside contact in the past two week and give routine tests to staff twice a week.

The guidance asks any facilities with an outbreak of the virus to begin universal testing for all staff and residents immediately.