By Champaign County Health Care Consumers
October 29, 2018
Overview: The community needs to know about the change in ownership of the CCNH, and that it does not appear that Extended Care Clinical, LLC and Altitude Health Services, Inc. – the bidders for the CCNH and the people who came to the County Board – will be the ones owning and operating the CCNH once it is sold. Instead, a company with a very troubling reputation (Atied Associates, LLC) will be involved in owning the CCNH.
1) The bid in response to the County’s RFP was submitted jointly by Extended Care, LLC and Altitude Health Services, Inc. (March 2018). Please see attached letters of reference, which are for Eric Rothner, and for Extended Care Clinical, LLC and Altitude Services, Inc. – none of which are party to the actual Purchase Agreement with the County, or the Certificate of Need Application (Attachment A).
2) On May 9, 2018 William Rothner and representatives from these companies came to the County Board to answer questions and so that the County Board and community could get a feel for these companies. (Attachment B)
Agenda: https://champaigncountyclerk.com/countyboard/meetings/2018_meetings/docs/agendas/05_09_2018_agenda.pdf [1]
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MnvMBB0MDE&feature=youtu.be [2]
Minutes: https://champaigncountyclerk.com/countyboard/meetings/2018_meetings/docs/minutes/05_09_2018_minutes.pdf [3]
3) On May 24, 2018, the County Board voted to sell the CCNH to these companies and passed a Resolution No. 2018-141 specifying that the County Board would be selling the CCNH to Extended Care Clinical, LLC and Altitude Health Services, Inc. (Attachment C)
- 7 Board Meeting Minutes: https://champaigncountyclerk.com/countyboard/meetings/2018_meetings/docs/minutes/05_24_2018_minutes.pdf [4]
Resolution No. 2018-141: https://champaigncountyclerk.com/countyboard/resolutions/2018/r2018-141.pdf [5]
4) However, the Purchase Agreement, dated August 1, 2018, is between The County of Champaign and Altitude Acquisitions, LLC, which according to the Secretary of State, was created on 6/6/18. Altitude Acquisitions, LLC was created on June 6, 2018. (Note that the County Board passed a resolution to sell the CCNH to Extended Care Clinical, LLC and Altitude Health Services, Inc. – Altitude Acquisitions is a different company) (Attachment D)
- 27 of Certificate of Need Application: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/2018-08-16%2018-026%20University%20Rehabilitation%20Center.pdf [6]
5) The acquiring Applicant(s) in the Certificate of Need for the CCNH are University Rehab Real Estate, LLC and University Rehabilitation Center of CU, LLC. These entities were created on 8/17/18. They are both co-owned by William Rothner and Atied Associates (a company to whom our County has never been introduced in this process, but who owns lots of nursing homes) (Attachment E)
6) Review Board staff inquired about this, given that University Rehab Real Estate, LLC and University Rehabilitation Center of CU, LLC were the entities listed in the Certificate of Need application. (Attachment F)
Requested Information, P. 3, 4: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/2018-09-24%2018-026%20Response%20to%20Questions.pdf [7]
7) Review Board Staff were told that “Altitude Acquisitions, LLC is a placeholder entity and will go away at closing.” (Attachment F)
Requested Information, P. 3: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/2018-09-24%2018-026%20Response%20to%20Questions.pdf [7]
8) Review Board Staff Report on Page 7 states that “… Altitude Acquisitions, LLC is a “placeholder” and does not meet the requirements of 77 ILAC1130.220 – Necessary Party to an Application for Permit.” (Attachment G)
State Board Staff Report, P. 7: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/39.%2018-026%20University%20Rehabilitation%20Center%20CHOW.pdf [8]
9) Mr. William Rothner provided signed certifications dated August 15, 2018 regarding the newly created companies, University Rehabilitation Center C-U, LLC and University Rehab Real Estate, LLC, which are co-owned by Atied Associates. However, these companies did not yet exist. The Certificates of Good Standing for these companies indicate that they were created on August 17, 2018 (see Secretary of State Corp/LLC search to look up corporations: https://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController [9]). (Attachment H, and E)
Signed Certifications: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/2018-08-20%2018-026%20signed%20certifications.pdf [10]
10) Review Board Staff failed to acquire, and Mr. Rothner failed to produce ownership information regarding Altitude Acquisitions. The Review Board Staff failed to request ownership information for Atied Associates, LLC which is listed as part-owner of both University Rehabilitation Center of C-U, LLC and University Rehab Real Estate, LLC. (Attachment I)
11) In several places, the Review Board Staff Report wrongly states that “The Champaign County Board approved the sale of the nursing home to University Rehabilitation Center C-U, LLC, who has expertise in value engineering and can implement programs designed to improve quality and reduce costs…” The County Board did not approve the sale to this entity, and this entity does not have expertise in these matters, because it was not in existence at the time the sale was approved. (Attachment J)
For example, Page 2: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/hfsrb/Projects/ProjectDocuments/2018/18-026/39.%2018-026%20University%20Rehabilitation%20Center%20CHOW.pdf [8]
It is important to distinguish between the issue of ownership (who will own and operate the nursing home) versus what the new name of the CCNH will be.
The new name was announced as University Rehabilitation Center of CU, but what was not announced was that this represented a change in ownership that is different than what the County Board or the public knew about (Extended Care Clinical, LLC and Altitude Health Services, Inc. versus Rothner and Atied Associates).
Why is this important? It is important because the RFP Review Committee and the County Board, and the public, were introduced to Extended Care and Altitude Health Services, and reviewed Extended Care data, but were never told about Atied Associates or the homes they own and never got to review that data to assess the fitness of this company to own our nursing home.
At worst, this could represent a “bait and switch” scheme. At best, it might represent playing fast and loose with the actions taken by the County Board. Either way, the consequences for Champaign County residents will be long-term.