Feasibility of assisted living at The Neighbors not promising

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  — The feasibility of turning one of the “houses” at The Neighbors from skilled nursing to assisted living is not looking very promising.

Steve Rasmussen, chair of the Dunn County Board and chair of The Neighbors committee, reported on  a report from Wipfli LLP at the Dunn County Board’s July 26 meeting.

The Neighbors is the county’s nursing home. The facility opened in 2012 and replaced the Dunn County Health Care Center.

Following an audit, the accounting firm of Clifton Larson Allen recommended Dunn County have a feasibility study completed about shifting one of the houses at The Neighbors from skilled nursing to assisted living.

Dunn County currently has an excess of 50 nursing home beds, Rasmussen said.

The demand for assisted living is zero additional capacity, he said.

If The Neighbors were to convert one house to assisted living, it would have to be for private pay residents only. The problem with being for private pay only is once residents spend down the money they have available and they have no more resources, then they would have to move out of the facility because of federal rules, Rasmussen said.

Federal rules stipulating residents cannot move from private pay to Medicaid is a disincentive for converting to an assisted living, he said.

The Wipfli study also found Dunn County’s population of people over the age of 65 is increasing, and that by 2025, nearly 20 percent of the county’s population will be over 65, Rasmussen said.

Another problem with converting from skilled nursing to assisted living is The Neighbors would have to give up the licensing for the skilled nursing beds, he said.

Wisconsin only has so many skilled nursing bed licenses available, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get those licenses back after Dunn County gave them up.

A financial forecast would be the next step in determining whether The Neighbors might want to consider converting some of the skilled nursing beds to assisted living, Rasmussen said.

The issue will be on the agenda for The Neighbors for the next few months, he said.

Rasmussen also reported the number of residents at The Neighbors is lower than the target number, although he also noted that a lower census during the summer is not unusual.

The Neighbors currently is “in the red” by $225,000 without any tax levy applied, Rasmussen said.

On the other hand, the number of private pay residents is right on target, he said.

Medicare referrals continue to be a “sore spot” for The Neighbors because some hospitals in the area are not referring patients to skilled nursing facilities outside of the hospital’s system, Rasmussen said.