Another Springfield nursing home announces it will close in December - The State Journal-Register

Heritage Health-Springfield, a 178-bed, for-profit nursing home that has operated in Springfield since 1985, plans to close Dec. 17, displacing more than 100 residents at the facility and 180 employees.

Officials from Bloomington-based Heritage Operations Group cited financial and staffing challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and inadequate reimbursements from the Medicaid program as reasons for closing the facility at 900 N. Rutledge St.

 "The pandemic has led to historically low occupancy levels coupled with exploding operating costs," Heritage Operations Group president and chief operating officer Ben Hart said in a written statement Wednesday.

Heritage officials said the nursing home, which is jointly owned by nonprofit Memorial Health and for-profit Heritage Operating Group and operated by Heritage as managing partner, is the second-largest nursing home in Springfield. Between 60% and 70% of its 113 patients have their care paid for by the state- and federally-funded Medicaid program, Hart said.

"Our primary resources are Medicaid and Medicare, and they have not kept pace," he said.

Wednesday's announcement, representing what Hart said was a joint decision by Heritage and Memorial Health, came fewer than 10 days after St. Joseph's Home, a nonprofit nursing home in Springfield operated by a Catholic women's religious community, announced it will close Dec. 15.

Hart said the pandemic has made financial challenges worse for Illinois nursing homes amid inadequate payments from the state-administered Medicaid program.

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Average daily occupancy at Heritage Health-Springfield has dropped from 140-150 before the pandemic as individuals and families fearing COVID-19 avoided health care facilities and nursing homes were forced to limit new admissions because of COVID-19 outbreaks and staff shortages, Hart said.

To some degree, the closure of Heritage Health-Springfield is "an early indicator of the challenges facing the long-term care industry," he said. "If the state of Illinois doesn't step in and realize that this is happening in the long-term care industry, this is going to keep happening."

Patients who reside at Heritage Health-Springfield will be assisted in transferring to other Heritage facilities and non-Heritage facilities, Hart said.

Heritage, a privately held company, employs more than 4,300 people and owns or manages more than 50 facilities throughout Illinois, including nursing homes, supportive living centers and assisted-living and independent-living facilities.

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The facilities include Regency Care in Springfield, The Villas Senior Care Community East and West in Sherman and sites in Lincoln, Petersburg, Jacksonville, Pana and Litchfield.

A news release from Heritage said, "The inability to hire and retain workers has led to an explosion of wage expenses and made the promise of providing quality health care services increasingly difficult."

Hart said the "business fundamentals for Heritage Health in Springfield became unsustainable. This was a very difficult decision to make, and it will be a severe loss for health care in the Springfield community, but we had no other choice."

Kevin England, Memorial Health senior vice president and chief administrative officer, said in an emailed statement: "This was a difficult decision, but we believe that closing this facility and consolidating operations at Heritage's Regency Care facility is the best option to continue to provide quality care for residents. Memorial Health looks forward to working with the Heritage leadership team to provide the best possible care to residents at the Regency Care facility."

Hart said labor expenses at Heritage Health-Springfield increased 41% over the past year as it became more difficult to replace workers who left for other jobs and wage levels increased because of greater competition for workers.

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Official notices of Heritage Health-Springfield's scheduled closure have been given to residents, their families, the staff and regulatory agencies, he said. 

"Health care workers in the long-term care industry are true heroes for what they've done throughout the COVID pandemic," Hart said. "Workers have not received the recognition and appreciation they deserve. As a result of the lack of support and recognition, the industry as a whole now finds itself in a very fragile situation. The skilled-nursing industry limped into the pandemic, and now many peer operators find themselves struggling to stay afloat."

Heritage employees affected by the scheduled closure will be offered jobs at other Heritage facilities in central Illinois, company spokeswoman Melissa Beaver said.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, a total of 111 residents and staff members at Heritage Health-Springfield have come down with COVID-19, and 19 have died, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Editor's note: This story corrects an earlier version of the story in which the ownership of Heritage Health-Springfield was reported incorrectly.

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.