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Marlborough nursing
home has new owner
MetroWest Daily News - August 20, 2004
By Greg Turner / News Business Writer
Community Reporter |
MARLBOROUGH -- A regional
operator of health-care facilities has taken ownership of a local
nursing home and plans to increase its involvement in the community.
Merrimack Health Group Inc., a privately held company headquartered
in Marblehead, acquired Westridge Healthcare Center from Kentucky-based
Kindred Healthcare Inc. The sale, for an undisclosed sum, closed
Monday.
Westridge, a 196-bed, long-term care and rehabilitation facility
located on Northboro Road in Marlborough, is being renamed Marlborough
Hills Healthcare Center, according to Merrimack Health officials.
The company now has 11 facilities, 10 in Massachusetts
and one in Bedford, N.H.
Gina Queiros, the facility's new administrator, greeted many
of the staff's 180 full and part-time employees Wednesday to
talk about the new owner's plans.
"The response was great. People are excited about the change
of ownership and the fresh feel we're bringing to the programs,"
Queiros said yesterday. "We really want to focus on making
this place a great working environment."
Besides continuing the level of care for residents, Marlborough
Hills will reach out to the community. Queiros said the staff
will hold monthly blood pressure screening clinics at a nearby
CVS Pharmacy, starting Thursday. The staff also plans to participate
in a walk to raise money for Alzheimer's research scheduled for
October in Boston.
The facility, which has been in operation since 1964, has four
units: Alzheimer's and dementia, long-term care, sub-acute rehabilitation
and behavioral.
Queiros said renovations to the rehab unit that Kindred started
will continue, and the company will bring the rehab services
back in-house. Those services had been managed by an independent
contractor.
Merrimack Health, whose facilities operate under a decentralized
administrative model, plans a "seamless" transition
in Marlborough during the change in ownership, name and some
staff.
It is unclear why publicly held Kindred sold Westridge or if
it has plans to unload any of its 38 other facilities, including
two small specialty hospitals, in Massachusetts. A Kindred spokeswoman
did not return a call seeking comment.
Kindred's other facilities in MetroWest are Bolton Manor Nursing
& Rehabilitation Center in Marlborough, Eliot Healthcare
Center in Natick, Newton and Wellesley Alzheimer's Center in
Wellesley, and the Westborough Health Care Center.
Kindred employs 51,000 people and cares for more than 31,000
patients and residents daily. It operates 250 nursing centers,
70 acute-care hospitals and 30 institutional pharmacies in 40
states.
The company's presence in Massachusetts is about the same size
as it was when Kindred, then called Vencor Inc., filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection in 1999 after struggling to deal with
a 1998 cut in Medicare reimbursement rates. It emerged as Kindred
Healthcare in 2001.
In its most recent quarter, the three-month period ended June
30, Kindred posted a profit of $21.8 million, or 52 cents per
share, reversing a loss of $43.4 million, or $1.25 per share,
in the year-ago period. Its quarterly revenue rose to $897.5
million, up from $813.8 million.
Karen Driscoll, a spokeswoman for Merrimack Health, said the
company saw the acquisition of the Westridge nursing home as
"a good opportunity."
"This was not a bankrupt facility," she said. "It
didn't have anything to do with that."
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