Heritage Health announced Wednesday it plans to permanently close its 178 bed facility on North Rutledge.
That shutdown will happen in December, according to a news release. The company says it will work with families to find new placements. It also says it will help employees find new positions within the company.
'First and foremost, the residents and their care are the highest priority," said President and CEO Ben Hart.
That facility opened in 1985.
Heritage listed three reasons for the decision:
* Pandemic related costs and challenges
* Difficulty in keeping workers
* Reimbursement rates from the Medicaid program it says are too low
"This was a very difficult decision to make and it will be a severe loss of healthcare for the Springfield community, but we had no other choice," Hart said. He added the nursing industry "limped into the pandemic" and now many operators are struggling to stay afloat.
The closing follows news that St. Joseph’s Home, a not for profit facility on South Sixth Street, will also close in December after a more than a century in operation.
It comes as the state's Democratsconsider an overhaul to how the state reimburses nursing homes caring for Medicaid patients.
