The International Olympics. FIFA’s World Cup. The U.S. Presidential Election. Big things happen every four years.
The Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) four-year event is the inter-county relocation of long-term care beds. Not exactly the World Cup, but a big deal to nursing home operators with expansion plans.
Under the regulations, long-term care beds can only be relocated to contiguous counties under certain circumstances, except during July of every fourth year. This July, nursing home operators are able to relocate beds from certain counties with excess capacity to those counties identified by ODH as having a projected need for additional beds.
During July of 2016, nursing home operators may relocate the following number of long-term care beds into the counties listed below:
| Athens | 15 |
| Clermont | 369 |
| Fairfield | 259 |
| Geauga | 135 |
| Paulding | 105 |
| Pickaway | 44 |
| Portage | 280 |
In order to do so, operators must file the proper application and paperwork with ODH between July 1 and July 30. Much like a luxury tax, however, there is a cost. Ten percent of the number of relocated beds must be surrendered to ODH, and taken out of operation.
Despite the cost, this opportunity comes only once every four years. For many multi-facility operators, taking advantage of this relocation can allow for a redistribution of beds within the enterprise in order to reduce unoccupied beds. For operators with expansion plans in the counties listed above, this July represents an excellent opportunity to quickly achieve those goals. In order to obtain enough beds for the relocation, operators commonly purchase beds in counties with an excess need from other operators.
A facility potentially incurring significant capital expenditures due to a facility expansion may avail itself of one of several financing options, including tax-exempt and taxable bonds and government agency enhancement, and insurance and guarantee programs.
For more information on ODH’s long-term care bed relocation process, including application timelines, contact Chad Eckhardt or any member of Frost Brown Todd’s health care service team. For information on financing options, contact David A. Rogers, chair of FBT’s Public and Project Finance group.