Weakley County Nursing Home Receives Offer for Purchase

Posted

The Weakley County Nursing Home (WCNH) received a signed offer to purchase for 10.4 million by CCH Healthcare. The letter of intent between Weakley County, CCH Healthcare and WCRNC was approved by the County Commission on Monday, July 22 at their regularly scheduled meeting.

Some of the reasons stated for going with the offer presented would be providing the best care for the residents and that the company proposes keeping all of the current staff, Commissioner Roger Donaldson stated.

The nursing home does not wish to make a recommendation to sell or not to sell. Looking ahead at the changing industry, now would be the time to sell, Donaldson said.

CCH operates 31 facilities across Ohio and North Carolina.

“We started in Ohio in 2012 and North Carolina in 2016. And we employ local people. So I don't have any operations people who are in New Jersey who are traveling. We set up an operation in Ohio and took over my first building there. And it's old. And we considered more than 50 operations in Ohio. All of them are direct operations,” CCH CEO Jacob Stern stated.

“We have local people. When we take over facilities, I always like to tell them that I have no relatives in Weakley. Okay? So I will not be hiring any of my relatives to come in here and run a point. But like Mr. Donaldson said earlier, it's a changing industry. A lot of regulations. A lot of bargaining on this side. When you finally catch up, they come out with new ones. And then when you finally, you know, adapt to the new ones, then they come out with new ones,” Stern said.

The county commission approved a resolution to approve the letter of intent.

“This is just the start of the process. From here we would move into working towards asset purchase agreements, other contractual agreements,” County Attorney Allison Whitledge stated.

Within this industry, it's very challenging, especially when what we did was we went out and changed the market. We brought in local owner operators that were in the market. We brought in outside folks that do not currently own in the state of Tennessee. We're looking to grow their presence in the state.

So, essentially, moving forward with a group like CCH that has the economy to scale, that can come in, they can, you know, retain all the staff at hand. And not only retain all the staff at hand, but also provide great care to the residents of this county is truly what makes a difference between most of the owner operators that are currently out there,” Stern explained.

“So based on our research, based on what we were able to gather from the marketplace, I would say it is in your best interest to be able to move forward. We're doing this on about 45 other active deals across the country. A couple that are in the state of Tennessee are actually selling another 31 homes in the state of Tennessee today. But it is truly just the magnitude and how things are changing,” Stern said.

People come and they stay, and at the end of the day, just like no one wants to stay in a hotel that was renovated 20 years ago, no one wants to stay in a nursing home that was renovated 20 years ago. I really feel that if the resident's right, this is their home, they live in an up-to-date place,” Stern said.

More information will be forthcoming as the county moves forward with their letter of intent.