Barry County Commissioners don’t seem to have a choice.
They must agree to accept legal and financial responsibility for any outstanding debts owned to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by Thornapple Manor. If the county does not agree by June 30, CMS will stop paying Medicaid and Medicare claims, which is more than 90 percent of the nursing facility’s operating revenue.
Thornapple Manor Administrator Don Haney, said the CMS is requiring revalidation of all skilled nursing facilities in the country. When the initial revalidation is complete, it will be done every five years thereafter.
Thornapple Manor is unique in its relationship with the county, but the CMS does not recognize it and is requiring the county, as "owner " of the facility, to guarantee that all debts due to CMS will be paid by the county should the facility ever go bankrupt or close, Haney said.
Administrator Michel Brown talked to a county attorney who wanted to look at the underlying request. Brown wants to know if the county has that liability. At his request, the commissioners moved the matter to the regular board meeting next week, giving Brown time to get more information.
Commissioners agreed the facility could not be allowed to lose Medicare and Medicaid payments; they would have to sign it and argue it later.//
The original license was issued to Thornapple Manor in 1957, and Haney said in his 16 years at the facility, nothing like it has come up before. There are 35 other counties around Michigan in a similar situation, and “they are taking variety of approaches” to the mandate, Brown said. There is “only a very slight possibility” that the facility would ever close or go bankrupt, activating any debt payments, but he wanted more legal advice, he said.
