New Jersey

Closing of South Jersey Nursing Home Called Off

A South Jersey nursing home on the verge of closing earlier this month, will remain open.

About two weeks ago, the The Mount Laurel Center for Rehab and Healthcare notified the state it was closing and laying off 323 workers being decertified from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid program. 

The 220-bed facility is now in the process of being taken over by Marquis Health Services. Based in Brick, N.J., Marquis operates 16 long-term-care facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Its only facility in this region is the Kearsley Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia. Marquis is a subsidiary of Tryco partners is a real estate management company also based in Brick.

Marquis will be required to regain Medicare and Medicaid certification for the facility before those government programs will pay for care the center provides to the elderly and low-income resident who qualify for such coverage.

"Tryko Partners and Marquis Health Services actively pursued permission to operate Mount Laurel Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare during the Medicare and Medicaid recertification process," said Norman Rokeach, CEO of Marquis, in a statement. "On June 26, we learned that all patients currently at Mount Laurel can remain at the facility if they choose to do so.… We will be working closely with state and federal regulatory agencies to address their concerns as we move toward recertification, and into the future. We look forward to assuming operation of Mount Laurel in the near term, once the New Jersey Department of Health approves the ownership change."

Rokeach said once the ownership change is approved, the company will launch a "significant repositioning and rebranding" of the center which will operate as Laurel Brook Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. That effort will include improvements to patient rooms and common areas and the expansion and upgrading of an onsite therapy gym, he said.

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Garry Barker of Local 1034 RWDSU of the AFL-CIO, which represents certified nursing assistants at the Mount Laurel Center, said the move will save some jobs at the center — but the exact number will depend on the number of residents who stay at the facility during the transition.

The Mount Laurel Center was previously operated by Centers Health Care of New York City, which also operates long-term-care facilities in Hammonton and Deptford, N.J.

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