A Colorado nursing home will close its doors at the end of this month due to a “perfect storm” of pandemic-related financial challenges for the provider.
Parkmoor Village Healthcare Center, a 115-bed facility in Colorado Springs, CO, will shut down at the end of July and lay off 144 employees in the process, operator Vivage Senior Living announced in late June. The facility will be repurposed for non-nursing home use and its 79 residents will be relocated to other nearby long-term care communities.
“It is simply not fiscally feasible to continue to operate and provide a high quality of care to our residents given the current environment,” Heather TerHark, vice President of ancillary services, said in a statement to local media.
TerHark explained the “hard decision” was made based on severe financial conditions on long-term care facilities caused by “a perfect storm between the pandemic ally caused staff shortages and increased supply costs coupled with the long-standing chronic underfunding of these facilities by government program reimbursement.”
“We understand the hardship this will cause everyone,” Terhark said. “We are committed to supporting the remaining dedicated and compassionate staff at Parkmoor Village during their job transitions while ensuring that every Parkmoor Village resident is safely relocated to a living situation that meets their needs.”
An April report by the American Health Care Association revealed that more than 1,000 nursing homes have closed since 2015 — with 776 happening before the pandemic and 327 during the crisis.
The report also projected another 400 could go out of business this year and AHCA has called on the federal government to rethink its current proposal to cut nursing home pay rates.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented workforce shortage and economic crisis within the long term and post-acute care sector,” Mark Parkinson, AHCA president and CEO, said Tuesday. “Hundreds of nursing homes across the country have already been forced to permanently close their doors, and the proposed Medicare cuts will put even more facilities in jeopardy of shutting down and displace thousands of seniors.”
