Champion Care has bought St. Ann Rest Home
Champion Care, which operates 11 nursing homes and two assisted living centers in Wisconsin, has bought St. Ann Rest Home in Milwaukee from the Dominican Sisters.
St. Ann Rest Home, 2020 S. Muskego Ave., was dedicated on Feb. 11, 1945, to provide care to older adults of Polish descent, according to a news release. The name was chosen at the request of Ann Augustowski, its main benefactor.
“After 75 years of serving the community by providing our residents with high-quality nursing care, the Dominican Sisters concluded that our mission at St. Ann Rest Home has come to an end,” Mother Natalie Pekala, provincial superior of the Dominican Sisters, said in a statement. “This decision was not an easy one and was made in the process of prayerful consideration and many consultations. The complicated regulatory and operational challenges of running a nursing home became the crucial factor.”
Champion Care, based in Rockville Centre, New York, was founded in 2017 and has been buying skilled nursing facilities and assisted living centers in
Wisconsin.
“Champion Care is pleased to have the opportunity to purchase this exceptional facility from the Dominican Sisters,” Mark Ruvel, CEO of Champion Care, and Izzy Weinberg, chief operating officer, said in a statement.
St. Ann Rest Home — which has been renamed The Bay at St. Ann Health and Rehabilitation Center — has a five-star rating on the Nursing Home Compare website compiled by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Many nursing homes in recent years have struggled because of Medicaid’s low reimbursement rate and a severe shortage of workers. More than 30 nursing homes have been closed in the state since the start of 2016.
The pandemic has made the challenges of running a nursing home worse. Nursing homes, whose residents are particularly susceptible to catching and falling seriously ill to COVID-19, have been the center of some of the deadliest outbreaks in the country. Nursing home residents make up more than a quarter of all U.S. deaths from COVID-19.
Nursing homes have had to bulk up stores of personal protective equipment, which at times has been scarce, difficult to find or priced at many times its pre-pandemic cost, and implement strict infection control protocols to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They also are under increased requirements around COVID-19 reporting and testing.
Many nursing homes have struggled with staffing shortages as workers have had to quarantine because they have tested positive for COVID-19 or been exposed to someone who has.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, a trade group that represents nursing homes, said that a recent survey found that 65% of nursing homes were operating at a loss.
Nine out of 10 nursing homes surveyed said they have had to hire additional staff or pay overtime, according to the trade group.
Champion Care nonetheless sees a potential opportunity and is looking for acquisitions, said John Vander Meer, who was hired this year to be the company’s director of business development.
Vander Meer previously was CEO of the Wisconsin Health Care Association and the Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living.