Beecher Hunter

Less than two months after Life Care Center of Chattanooga closed its doors following a violation-ridden state inspection report, the nursing home's parent company has donated the now-vacant facility to Hamilton County.

"We didn't think that the mistakes that were made in that building ... rose to the level that (federal officials) said it did," said Beecher Hunter, president of Cleveland, Tenn.-based Life Care Centers of America. "But we took what was a negative situation and tried to make something positive out of it."

The $5.9 million building at 455 North Highland Park Ave. has 57,000 square feet that will be used to bring some county services back to a "neighborhood setting and ease some of the parking issues that people encounter when they visit county offices downtown," said Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey in a news release.

The Hamilton County Commission will vote next week on whether to accept the building. The county has offered to pay this year's property tax on the property, county commissioners said at their meeting Thursday.

Life Care Center of Chattanooga officials were warned Aug. 12 that they had just two days to address a number of problems identified in the annual state inspection or risk losing the facility's contract with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Violations were cited in areas including medication administration, nursing care, medical record-keeping and administration standards, according to the report.

Nursing home officials were unable to implement a plan to address all the violations in such a short time, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contract expired that week, leaving the nursing home with a month to relocate all patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

Only three patients out of about 110 paid out of pocket for their care, but so few patients would not be enough to sustain the facility, Mr. Hunter said.

"That's the heartbreaking part of it, because some of those residents have been in that building for years," he said. "For them to have to move was a rather traumatic experience, to move from an environment that was familiar and friendly to them."

On Sept. 9, the last Life Care Center of Chattanooga resident was transferred from the 153-bed facility to other Life Care centers in the area, as well as other nursing home companies' facilities, Mr. Hunter said.

An advocate for the disabled said he supports the decision to close down the facility.

"When you're dealing with someone's loved ones and putting them in jeopardy, you can't underestimate the importance of quality care," said Tom Peters, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action, a nonprofit group focused on consumer protection.

He said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could have given the facility 23 days to correct its violations but, because of the severity of the infractions, gave the facility only two days.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Life Care Center of Chattanooga, formerly located at 455 North Highland Park Ave., closed for business a month after losing its contract with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Federal officials terminated the contract after an annual state inspection, conducted in June and July, found numerous violations at the nursing home facility, including instances in which patients went without needed pain medications, received incorrect drugs or didn't receive ordered lab tests.