Scripps Sells Nursing Homes; UCSD to End Home Care

Scripps Sells Nursing Homes; UCSD to End Home Care

Health Care: Hospital Systems Cite Differing Factors for Decision

BY MARION WEBB



Senior Staff Writer

Two San Diego-based hospital systems recently decided to shed their nursing home businesses.






Scripps Health announced the sale of two nursing homes to a Los Angeles-based company, citing strategic reasons, while UCSD Healthcare said financial problems made it difficult to continue operating its home health care program.






Scripps sold two facilities , 161-bed Scripps Torrey Pines Convalescent Hospital in La Jolla and 99-bed Scripps Ocean View Convalescent Hospital in Encinitas , to privately held La Jolla-Cal Associates L.P. for $8.03 million. The sale is anticipated to be finalized by May.






Both nursing homes will be operated by Vancouver, Wash.-based Evergreen Healthcare, a for-profit provider of long-term and specialty health services.






Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, said patient care would not be interrupted during the transaction.






All 500 employees working at the nursing homes are given the option to remain with Scripps, he said.






Van Gorder said the sale wasn’t financially driven, but a strategic move to focus on “what Scripps does best” , running acute-care hospitals.






In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the two nursing homes lost a combined $1.8 million, he said. During the first five months of this fiscal year, the loss narrowed to $250,000, he said.






Following the sale, Scripps will own one nursing home at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.






Fiscal Problems, Lack Of Nurses






UCSD Healthcare, meanwhile, said starting June 30 it will stop providing skilled nursing and other services to patients in their homes.






Mary Middleton, director of patient care services at UCSD Medical Center, said the program was in its third year of economic loss.






The program lost $1 million in fiscal 2000, which increased to $2 million in 2001, and was projected to lose $3 million this year.






Middleton attributed the losses to insufficient reimbursement from private insurers and the federal government and the severe shortage of nursing personnel.






The 140 nurses and administrative staff working at the program are likely to transfer to other divisions at UCSD, Middleton said.






In 2001, UCSD’s program served some 5,000 patients, UCSD reported.






Middleton couldn’t say exactly how many patients are presently enrolled. But she added UCSD is working with patients to ensure a smooth transition to other agencies.






“I think it’s tougher for agencies to stay in business,” Middleton said about the home health care industry.






She cited reports of 3,000 home health care agencies closing nationally in the last few years amid insufficient reimbursements and a lack of qualified personnel.






Under the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, the Centers for Medicare