Lawsuit may force change of control at ManorCare nursing homes

A national chain that operates two facilities in Lancaster County may be forced to turn over control of its nursing homes.

Quality Care Properties Inc. owns the facilities operated by HCR ManorCare, and says ManorCare has defaulted on its lease.

QCP said the lease allows it to seek appointment of an independent receiver to "provide oversight and seek to preserve the value of the company's facilities,"and that it wants to work with said receiver "to transition its properties to new owners and/or operators," pursuing "a regionalization strategy that will offer new investment and new opportunities to local managers, capitalizing on the strong teams already working at the company's facilities."

QCP said it does not expect interruptions to patient care and does expect jobs will be preserved.

ManorCare has 42 homes in Pennsylvania, including one in Lancaster with 172 beds, and one in Elizabethtown with 73 beds. There are 32 nursing homes in Lancaster County, and those two are among the nine that have two stars in Medicare's five-star rating system. All but one of the rest of the nursing homes in the county have at least three stars, with 15 achieving the highest rating of five stars.

Queries to the local homes were referred to ManorCare's corporate office, where spokeswoman Julie Beckert sent a brief emailed statement.

"We are working on our legal response and do not have any comments about QCP’s announcement at this time," she wrote. "This action by QCP is in no way related to our operations and the way we go about providing care to our patients and residents. Our commitment to providing high-quality care and caring remains our number one priority."

Industry publication Skilled Nursing News also reported that a January court date has been set for an unrelated lawsuit in which the Justice Department accused ManorCare of billing Medicare for "medically unnecessary" services.

Credit: HEATHER STAUFFER | Staff Writer