Knox to pay for Carter school by June

The county is set to stroke the final check toward paying off Carter Elementary School, which opens in August, after it recently received the $5.75 million in folding paper it got from selling three pieces of property to Hillcrest HealthCare Communities (that the operation initially leased).

The commission obviously will have to sign off on it, but it shouldn't be a big deal. The money will cover the rest of the $13.9 million for the school as well as a little more than half the FF&E (furniture, fixtures, equipment), which will cost another $2 million.

The county will then sell some 1.5 acres off Middlebrook Pike, which will cover the remaining $900K it needs. Officials hope to actually get between $1 million to $2 million for that property. Key, though, will probably be how it's zoned.

It's currently zoned agriculture-residential. The county is asking the Knoxville City Council to rezone it to commercial (MPC recommends “office”). The council will take up the issue tonight and during its May 28 meeting.

Grace, not Hillcrest, in fed trouble

Over the weekend local spin wiz Cynthia Moxley sent out a note to county commissioners, letting them know that the U.S. Department of Justice issued a news release involving Grace Healthcare and Grave Ancillary Services.

"I just wanted you to know that although Grace does have a management contract with Hillcrest Healthcare, the investigation to which the news release refers does not involve Hillcrest Healthcare facilities," she wrote.

She also noted that several months ago Hillcrest Grace Ancillary Services of Hillcrest's intent to terminate its contract with Grace Ancillary to manage Hillcrest's rehabilitation units in Knox County.

I'm assuming that Moxley represents Hillcrest Healthcare and she's trying to quell any rumors before they start.

Anyhoo, you can find the release right smack here.

In part, it states:

The Justice Department announced today that Chattanooga, Tenn., based nursing home manager Grace Healthcare LLC and its affiliate Grace Ancillary Services LLC (collectively, Grace) have agreed to pay $2.7 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting or causing the submission to the Medicare and TennCare/Medicaid programs of false claims for medically unreasonable and unnecessary rehabilitation therapy.   Grace Ancillary Services LLC provided the therapy in some of the skilled nursing facilities Grace Healthcare LLC owns and/or manages in Tennessee and elsewhere.

Expect county to sell Hillcrest land

Hillcrest north campus (photo by J. Miles Cary)

First post of the year. About time, I suppose. Just really getting back after a good amount of time off for the holidays.

Anyhoo, had a story in this weekend's paper about a deal between the county and Hillcrest HealthCare Communities that could lead to the nursing home securing the property where it operates for about $5.3 million. It currently pays the county $1 a year to lease a combined 33 acres in the north, south and west parts of the county.

Hillcrest has tried this before and it didn't work out, I think mostly because Paul Pinkston was on the commission and he wanted to let others bid. Ornery, yet charismatic he was able to get enough of the then-19 member commission on board. In the end, officials just extended the least.

I don't expect that to happen this time. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett has the six votes he needs to sell the property. Plus, he's going to argue that regardless of whether the deal is put out to bid, only Hillcrest can continue to use it as a nursing home for the indigent. And he's pretty much right. (It all comes down to Hillcrest owning the “certificate of need” to operate a nursing home and that's based on local demographics and the need for beds.)

Sooooo . . . expect this to pass. The board is supposed to talk about it during its work session and voting meeting later this month, but it is possible that it gets deferred for until February out of courtesy to any member who wants to further study the matter.