Nursing home could recoup $270,000 in claims

Aug. 14--GALESBURG -- A new state policy could help the Knox County Nursing Home regain approximately $270,000 of its pending Medicaid claims.

The state of Illinois is expected to pay for the care of Medicaid patients who have been waiting longer than the state's deadline of 45 days for their claims to process. The state's policy took effect Aug. 1 as the result of the case of Koss et al vs. Norwood et al in the Illinois Northern District Court.

Jori Shull, business office manager for the nursing home, estimated during a meeting of the Knox County Board's Nursing Home Committee Tuesday that the nursing home could recoup approximately $270,000 of the Medicaid claims that the state has yet to pay. That would cover claims for seven current patients and one deceased patient.

"That would be very beneficial to us if that does happen," Shull said.

Nursing Home Committee Chairman Bob Bondi, R-District 2, estimated the county would see the payments start to come in by the end of August.

The news comes five months after the county's auditor found that the nursing home, then overseen by former administrator Rachel Secrist, had $1.2 million in outstanding insurance claims. The county released Secrist from its employment last month.

The county has not yet advertised the job but three individuals reached out and inquired about the position, Bondi said. He expected the county would advertise the job within 60 days. Until then the county has been working with another former administrator, Marianne Wiesen, on how to proceed in finding a new administrator. She connected the county with the Illinois Health Care Association to assist with resources and networking throughout the process.

Meanwhile, Donna Motz, director of nursing for the nursing home, continues to handle the duties of the administrator position and training for the staff members in how to process insurance claims remains ongoing. Shull told the committee that nursing home staff members met for a "triple check" assessment earlier Tuesday to go through the claims, and consulted with a representative from SNF Solutions, the contractor the county hired for the training, over the phone. The nursing home was billed by the state Tuesday for July Medicare claims totaling $34,437.88.

The committee also heard a report of unexpected, ongoing repair work taking place at the Knox County Courthouse. When Mechanical Services Inc. installed ductwork in the Courthouse's basement, workers removed a portion of the brick wall above the IT office's door to extend the ductwork out into the courthouse's hallway. They removed a support in the process, causing a section of the first floor -- the portion entering into Knox County Clerk Scott Erickson's office -- to settle by approximately 1/4th of an inch, said Knox County Sheriff David Clague.

Andy Rowe, information technology coordinator for the county, discovered the settling floor while walking into Erickson's office last week. Clague inspected the area last Thursday and determined the floor did not pose a threat to safety.

MSI is making the repairs and used both a large and a small jack to elevate the floor. Workers had removed the large jack by Saturday, Clague said.

Bondi said during the meeting that MSI's president, Rob Benedict, "has been very forthright in saying it was their mistake and they need to take care of it."

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