Judge approves split of Haven Healthcare chain
HARTFORD, Conn. --A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a plan to transfer most of the nursing homes in the Haven Healthcare chain to new owners and place four facilities in receivership.
The decision, released Friday, essentially spells the end of the troubled chain and a "nightmarish legal battle" that left its patients and workers in limbo, said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
"Very appropriately on Independence Day, these families and residents have good cause to celebrate," Blumenthal said. "This decision marks a new day for these nursing homes, and hopefully a new era of even higher-quality care and financial stability."
State officials will ask a Hartford Superior Court judge Monday to appoint receivers for the other four facilities until buyers are found, he said. Those homes are in Waterford, Danielson, Windham and Norwich.
Investors who owned an interest in those homes and a fifth facility in Farmington had declined to take them over or sell them to other entities.
Middletown-based Haven Healthcare was one of the state's largest nursing home chains before it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2007. It operates 27 facilities in five states, including 15 in Connecticut.
Connecticut officials are investigating whether the company misused millions of dollars in Medicaid funds. The company denies the allegations.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Albert S. Dabrowski's decision, released Friday, divides most of the chain's nursing homes between three real estate investment firms.
Five of the homes in Connecticut will be transferred to
Haven's home in South Windsor will be sold to Connecticut Health Facilities Inc., a company that owns four nursing homes in the state.
The new owners have pledged to follow existing labor contracts for the nursing home workers, Blumenthal said.
The Hartford Courant reported this week that Haven's chief executive officer, Ray Termini, informed employees in a June 27 letter that he was resigning as of Monday. He said the company had endured "a battering of negative news over the past 12 months," and he disputed the allegations of mismanagement as "meritless," the Courant reported.
Connecticut officials alleged that Haven Healthcare allowed its nursing homes' bills to go unpaid while Termini used company funds for a house, yacht and Nashville record label. No criminal charges have been filed.
Attempts to reach Termini on Friday were unsuccessful. Messages were left seeking comment with a company spokeswoman.
Termini has acknowledged that he did use some Haven assets to finance the record label, but said none of the money came from Medicaid or Medicare payments.
He denied misusing the company's assets, and said no funding was taken from patient care. He said the assets he used came from refinancing some Haven properties. 