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Cumberland County down to 1 company for potential sale of nursing home

Patriot-News - 4/15/2021

One potential buyer for the nursing home owned by Cumberland County has dropped out of discussions, but commissioners are now negotiating with another company for the sale of the Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Transitions Healthcare, with whom county commissioners had been negotiating the transaction, has withdrawn from the process, county officials announced today.

Cumberland County will now begin negotiations with Allaire Health Services of Lakewood, New Jersey.

Allaire was one of two prospective companies designated as finalists in the vetting process commissioners started in the fall for the potential sale of Claremont.

For years, Claremont had operated on a self-sustaining basis through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and care-related revenue, but the county cites rising costs of care and stagnant or declining revenue from federal and state sources as depleting the home’s financial reserves over time. County officials say despite efforts to reverse this trend, it became necessary to sell the home before it becomes a drain on taxpayer dollars.

At Thursday’s Cumberland County commissioners’ workshop meeting, the commissioners voted 2-1 to make the motion to designate Allaire as the primary bidder with Commissioners Vince DiFilippo and Gary Eichelberger supporting the motion, and Commissioner Jean Foschi voting against it.

“We were prepared for a decision to change if warranted,” Commissioner Gary Eichelberger said in a press release. “The original choice between our two finalists was probably one of the toughest parts of the process, because both exhibited the qualities we sought. It would not be fair to say that this is a second choice; it could easily have gone either way. We are fortunate to be in an excellent position to keep this process on track without compromising anything.”

Commissioners expect to finalize the sale by late summer or early fall.

The potential sale of Claremont has been met with some local opposition.

Opponents say there is a broad-based support for keeping the home under county control and hope the commissioners will weigh other options before a potential sale.

Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is a 282-bed skilled nursing facility providing therapeutic nursing care for a variety of needs. Claremont provides transitional care and a full-time rehabilitation center and dementia unit. A facility was established in 1829. From 1967 to 1997, it was known as the Cumberland County Nursing Home and in 1997, the name was changed to Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

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