As providers around the country scramble to find enough staff, enhance revenues and ramp back up to original capacity, they might find a good example in a Michigan county-owned facility that used operational changes to put itself back in the black and shelve plans for hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans.

Medicaid overpayments of nearly $875,000 from 2019 to 2021 have been partly responsible for the predicament Maple Lawn Medical Care of Coldwater, MI, found itself in, according to a local report. The state had begun reducing current payments to reclaim those funds.

Also missing is $3.6 million in federal COVID-19 Employee Retention Credits that are due to Maple Lawn but could take up to a year to arrive, according to facility director Jayne Sabaitis.

She told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Wednesday that census and revenue have improved recently due to some executive decisions.

“In the last few months, we have restructured our admission process and changed some nursing and CNA shifts from eight- to 12-hour shifts to help with staffing coverage so that we could take five to six more rehab patients,” she explained. 

“We have been able to add a few certified CNAs to our staff and currently have nine students registered for a CNA class starting on Oct. 24,” she added. “This is something that we are looking at on a daily basis to be able to manage the acuity in our rehabilitation department and ensure that our clients are receiving the care that they deserve.”

Not long ago, leaders at the rehab and memory care facility were forced to apply to the county for a loan. Some $250,000 was authorized for October with a possible $750,000 in the future to assist daily operations. But at least for now, it won’t be needed, Sabaitis recently told county commissioners. The facility had $373,000 in its cash account, according to a report in the local Daily Reporter. 

And another lifeline could be coming, long before the federal COVID-19 employee retention credits might arrive. Sabaitis told McKnight’s that because Maple Lawn is a county medical care facility, it has been able to get a millage request on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.

“We hope that with the approval of the request it will give the facility some much needed cash flow to help us recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the lower census and revenues as well as all of the additional costs that we have endured during this time,” she told McKnight’s.

Like most providers, she’ll continue to look for further operational efficiencies. And she realizes that the county loan might still come in handy at some point.

“We do not need the money this month, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t need to borrow the funds at some time in the future,” she acknowledged.