BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A company that owns one of Idaho’s only independent psychiatric hospitals has declared bankruptcy, putting the future of the facility in question.
Safe Haven Healthcare is continuing to operate its Boise hospital and three assisted living and skilled nursing facilities in Bellevue and Wendell, but some employees have quit and others are relying on a judge’s orders to get their paychecks, the Idaho Statesman reports.
Safe Haven owner Scott Burpee said the financial crisis was caused in part by a fire that gutted the company’s Pocatello hospital last fall, along with a failed buyout by an employee. The company has faced other financial and operational problems recently, including an inspection that found a lack of oversight by registered nurses contributed to patient deaths and fines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“I would say it stems from the fire in Pocatello,” said Safe Haven’s bankruptcy attorney, Matthew Christensen of Angstman Johnson in Boise. “The hospital in Pocatello was probably 50 or 60 percent of the total income to the companies at the time.”
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Safe Haven told the court it owes more than $17 million and has just $10 million in assets to its name, mostly in the form of real estate. The debts listed on its bankruptcy filing include nearly $900,000 in overpayments to Medicaid that the state was recouping and about $7 million in lease payments that are in dispute. It also lists debts to East Coast lending firms that specialize in giving credit to businesses on short notice.
The Boise hospital is one of only two Idaho psychiatric hospitals not owned and operated by the state or a larger regional hospital system.
The hospital remains open, and psychiatrists who care for patients there have agreed to keep working at Safe Haven, Christensen said.
Christensen said he doesn’t believe Safe Haven in Boise will have to shut down.
“I think they’re going to either reorganize the debts to keep it open (or) they’re looking right now at a potential sale of the Treasure Valley facility — either one of which would keep the doors open,” he said. “I think within the next month, we’ll know if there will be a sale.”
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com