Polk County to close Rohr Home after 2 years of seeking a nursing home provider to buy it
After a yearslong attempt to find a nursing home provider to buy the Rohr Home, the Polk County Commission has decided to close the facility in Bartow.
The decision was made official during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled board meeting at the Polk County Administration Building in Bartow.
The commissioners voted unanimously to direct County Manager Bill Beasley to file the necessary paperwork to close the facility on Oct. 1. The facility has struggled to keep its staff and fill beds, which is a challenge throughout the nursing home industry.
Polk County has operated the home since 2003. The county put the property up for sale in July 2022. In November last year, the county agreed to sell the Rohr Home to Millennial Property Investments Corp. of Bartow for $5 million. Since then, that deal fell through. The last request the county made for bids from potential buyers was in early March, but no one submitted a bid, according to Todd Bond, assistant county manager for support services and human services.
In a last-ditch effort to explore other options, the commissioners had heard three potential directions they could go with the Rohr Home at their Friday agenda review.
Closing was one option, the other two were to continue seeking a nursing home provider to buy it or have Polk County continue to operate the nursing home facility.
Bond's presentation to commissioners on Tuesday was bleak.
Based on information from the American Health Care Association, Bond showed the commissioners results of a study showing that seven of 10 nursing homes have not been able to fully staff facilities since the pandemic (as of January 2020).
Of 500 nursing home providers surveyed, 90% are hiring and nearly all have increased their wages in the past six months. Other hiring incentives included, sign-on bonuses, added benefits and paid training.
“These are all the things we would have to end up doing,” Bond said, if the commissioners chose to keep operating the facility.
Bond said that 87% of nursing homes are operating at a break-even level or losing money. And more than half of U.S. nursing homes are struggling to fill their beds.
Turning to the Rohr Home, Bond said that if the facility were to be kept open and accept new residents, the county is projected to spend $954,381 in fiscal year 2023-24 for 23 residents and $1.758 million next fiscal year for 28 residents to subsidize the nursing home.
Commission Chairman Bill Braswell asked whether the county could avoid subsidizing the facility if the costs per patients were higher and more comparable to private facilities in the county. He added the county already subsidizes bus transportation, among other services to residents.
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Bond said that if the population went to 55 residents at Rohr Home, then subsidies would no longer be needed as the operation is scaled upward. But that would be several years down the road and only if the county could recruit and hire the staff, among other challenges.
According to the consent agenda, the county will provide at least 90 days’ notice to each of the 19 current residents of the Rohr Home, as required by state law. The county also must notify the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to make arrangements for the transfer of each resident.
As the closure nears, “a representative of AHCA shall be placed in the Rohr Home 30 days prior to the voluntary discontinuation of operation,” according to the agenda.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Rohr Home to close after Polk County cannot find provider to buy it
