Crest Haven Nursing, Rehab Center Focus of Efficiency Study; No Layoffs Planned

CREST HAVEN — By year’s end, freeholders hope to award a contract for an efficiency study to be done at Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. While the target is to reduce operating costs at the 180-bed facility, it is not the board’s intent to reduce staff or lay off anyone, according to County Administrator Stephen O’Connor.
The county budgeted $8-million for Crest Haven’s payroll this year. That includes 196 employees, everyone from administrator to institutional attendants and foodservice workers. In 2010, the payroll was $7.9 million.
At its Tue., Oct. 11 meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing use of competitive contracting for such a study.
“This (idea) came out of a management-union meeting, which we periodically have,” O’Connor said. “One was on the nursing home. Actually, the union (AFSCME Local 3596) is being very pro-active in working with management to come up with ways to reduce costs,” he added.
As discussion turned to staffing levels at the facility, “The union agreed with us that we should have a feasibility study done,” he said.
The county is seeking ways to trim its 2012 budget by reducing operational costs. Nothing new, that process has continued for the past several years as real estate transactions at the County Clerk’s office, which had historically helped fill county coffers, have dwindled.
While all operations of the center will be scrutinized for efficiencies, O’Connor said the “primary intention will be to look at staffing levels.”
“While there is a requirement for minimum staffing, the county is looking to ensure that there is the appropriate ratio between licensed and certified personnel for each of its three daily shifts,” said O’Connor.
An example cited would be to determine whether more certified nursing assistants (CNA) are needed and fewer licensed practical nurses (LPN) or registered nurses (RN).
“If a better ratio of licensed and certified personnel can be designed, it will mean less reliance on outside agencies,” O’Connor stated. The county spends $1.4 million yearly in those agencies to maintain its daily staffing requirements. Those agencies include General Health-care, Med A Quest, Favorite Healthcare, ATC, Maxim, and Infinity.
He noted that the county uses those temporary staffing agencies only for LPNs and CNAs .
“We do not use outside agencies for RNs,” O’Connor said.
The study will show what is presently used and what might be saved, “use of more CNAs and less LPNs or RNs.”
“We are looking to more efficiently use our existing staff and less outside agencies,” he added. Use of those outside agencies is used when staffing numbers drop below minimum levels. The county saves $165 per day for LPNs and $51 a day for CNAs when using county employees instead of agency workers, he said.
Looking west and north, O’Connor said Salem and Cumberland counties have eyed other forms of ownership for facilities like Crest Haven. Those included privatizing or having improvement authorities take over those operations.
“Cape May County has no intent of turning over its 180-bed facility,” O’Connor explained.
Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, under Administrator Margaret A. Gannon, offers “unique services such as Transitional Life Care Unit that caretakers rely on for short-term stays of their home-bound elderly patients, it meets the larger need of the county’s population,” said O’Connor.
To qualify for reimbursement, private nursing homes need a 45 percent Medicaid occupancy rate. The county facility has 75 percent Medicaid residents. Thus, without a county-operated facility, O’Connor pointed out there is a “potential 30 percent of Medicaid clients that could find it more difficult to get the appropriate care they require.”
It is expected that the feasibility study will, if begun by year’s end, will be done by June 2012.
The county has offered to its residents a home like Crest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since it built an almshouse in 1821.
According to the center’s website: “Then in 1833 an addition on the old Johnson farm was completed and used as the facility, which are the grounds of the current Crest Haven Complex.
“During the late 1930s the county had expanded into a seashore resort with many rural communities and it was evident that a more modern facility was needed. However, due to the war there was a delay in construction, which was followed by high prices and scarcity of building materials.
“In January 1953 the Board of Chosen Freeholders opened Cape May County Welfare Home with 90 beds and added 53 beds in April 1960. The Welfare Home became known as Crest Haven.
“On Aug. 20, 1987 Freeholder Gerald M. Thornton extended an invitation to the public to attend ground-breaking ceremonies for the current Crest Haven Nursing Home. Thornton, who was freeholder director, said “There is a definite need to protect our low-income elderly residents,” he continued, “and to provide care for them within the county, so they can remain close to their families.”
“Dedication of the current 180 bed Crest Haven Nursing Home facility was held March 10, 1990 replacing the 140 bed Crest Haven Welfare Home.
“The evolution from almshouse, to Welfare Home to Crest Haven Nursing Home has been an important part of the history of Cape May County. Crest Haven continues to expand the services available for the residents.
“Another successful and vital project to the community was the opening of the palliative care unit, or end of life/comfort care unit. This unit was appropriately named TLCC. TLCC stands for The Transitional Life Care Center. This is a separate and distinct eight-bed unit, with its own entrance and courtyard and a number of private rooms. This unit, like the new rehabilitation gym, is unlike any other facility offered in Southern New Jersey.”
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com