Branch Counties — After all, county-owned Maple Lawn Medical Care nursing facilities don’t need to borrow $250,000 to cover salaries and expenses this month.
Director Jane Savitis recently told the county commission that patient census and earnings have increased in the past few months.
“We have about $373,000 in our cash account, which means we have it on hand right now,” says Sabaitis.

Sabaitis came before the commission when a state audit showed that he overpaid Medicaid funds to Maple Lawn on October 21, 2019 by $874,976.96 and began reducing current payments to recover the overpayment. I was.
Last Thursday, accountant Plant Moran filed with treasurer Steve Lutz a revised 2021 tax return owing $3.6 million in federal COVID-19 employee retention credits to Maple Loan. .
Sabaitis told the committee not to expect funding from the ERC anytime soon.
“Plant Moran says 12 months. I think that’s the minimum.”

Chairman Tim Stoll said, “We’ve heard longer in some cases.
“They process quarterly,” Sabaitis said. “We know that quarterly payments have come a little earlier for some facilities.”
Maple Lawn didn’t apply for ERC funding, Sabaitis said, because the facility didn’t know until January that the county-owned facility was eligible.
Last month, at the request of the Sabaitis and Maple Lawn boards, county commissioners voted 3 to 2, and in a November ballot, county property was awarded $0.99 for five years to pay for “operating, maintaining, and capital costs.” Decided to propose Mill’s appraisal. for maple lawn.

When asked to borrow $1 million, the director promised a fee, saying, “If you don’t need the money, you won’t borrow it. We’ve seen a census increase in the last two months.”
Maple Lawn recently added staff to accommodate more patients.
“We couldn’t hire too many, but we have six potential CNAs starting classes on October 24th at Glen Oaks Community College in Centerville. That’s the three-week program.
“Unfortunately,[Kellogg Community College]had to cancel a class because an instructor was sick and on vacation, which is now a constraint on staff availability,” Sabaitis said. told the commissioner.
more:Maple Loan needs county relief from pandemic financial crisis
Maple Lawn’s director said patients from Branch County would go to facilities in Oaklawn, Bronson, or Borgess.
“We are seeing those referrals coming back to the county. rice field.”
Sabaitis said she and the director of Laurels, a private nursing care center, work in Branch County to maintain local rehabilitation patients and long-term care.
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Another reason for the positive cash flow is that the $291,659 the state deducted in July was returned to Maple Lawn. The new agreement is for the state to withhold overpayments for six months from his January.
Maple Lawn does not receive ERC funding, but has received COVID-19 funding from state and federal funds. The Nursing Home said he received $874,126 in COVID-19 relief funds for 2020-2021 and an additional $365,921 in American Reuse Plan funds in November 2021.
In 2020, $646,501 was paid for reimbursement of supplies and $50,054 for PPE equipment in 2020.
Subsidies for direct care workers are now $1.6 million in 2021 and $162,072 this year. In addition, care workers were paid an hourly subsidy of $2.35.
— Please contact Don Reid at dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.