Doctors bid $8.45 million for center

A group of Hendersonville physicians offered $8.45 million for the Pardee Care Center, the highest of 14 bids county-owned Pardee received for the nursing and rehabilitation center.

Hendersonville Physicians and Associates LLC, which includes five physicians and other local partners, made the offer for the 130-bed facility on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College.

The sale is not a done deal, and Pardee's board of directors will take more into account than monetary offers when it meets on Dec. 12 to consider potential buyers.

When he heard about the care center being sold, Dr. Larry Russell said he "began actively working to put together a group to see if we could try to basically secure the facility locally."

"With all the concerns and changes within the medical community, I thought it would be worthwhile looking at can we secure some focus locally," Russell said. "What we've got is a group of docs who basically have a local interest in Henderson County."

The company includes five local physicians -- Dr. Amal Das, Dr. David Mackel, Dr. Stuart Glassman, Dr. Steven Lackey and Dr. Russell.

It also includes Linda Brooks, a family nurse practitioner, Ed Baber, a physician's assistant, and his father, pharmacist Larry Baber, owner of Whitley Drugs.

Russell said other local physicians have also expressed interest.

The local connection gives the group a better understanding of the needs of the employees, clients and families at the care center, he said.

"You're looking at having an ownership that literally shops at the Wal-Mart and Ingles right alongside the employees of the facility and right alongside the families who have loved ones at the center," he said. "We're more accessible, we're right here, and I think that gives us a better feel for the concerns of the community."

The group plans to lease the building to Ardent Health and Rehabilitation, which would operate the facility. Mike DeLoach and Chris Sprenger of Ardent also have a stake in Hendersonville Physicians and Associates.

"So we have a local group of people who own it, and a local company that operates it," said DeLoach, vice president of Ardent. "I think that's significant, because we keep it in the community. We each have a significant investment, not only financially, but personally and professionally to make sure we continue the good care that's been at the care center."

Ardent operates Beystone Health and Rehabilitation in Fletcher, a 50-bed skilled nursing facility. It also operates Sanford Health and Rehabilitation, a 130-bed skilled nursing facility southwest of Raleigh.

DeLoach, who lives in Henderson County, would be the on-site operator of the facility, Russell said.

"As far as the services provided, we really don't have any intention of seeing it be any different," Russell said. "I think the vision that Pardee Hospital originally had was excellent, and they do excellent care at the facility.

"I think that we are able to hopefully bring more experienced management of outpatient facilities to bear so that we can be able to keep it running successfully," he added. "My experience has been that hospitals do an excellent job of doing hospital administration and running hospitals. But it's a whole different world when you're doing outpatient facilities, so there's a lot of barriers for them to be able to run them successfully."

Of 60 hospital-owned nursing facilities in North Carolina, less than 10 percent are profitable, Pardee officials said.

"Not being bound to a hospital, we're able to run (the center) like all the other facilities are run in the nation," Russell said.

Pardee put the care center up for sale after it struggled financially.

The center ended the 2006 fiscal year $577,723 in the red, and it was expected to lose $189,980 this year.

Hospital leaders say they want to ensure a continuity of care and will consider the past performance of potential buyers.

"I think we're going to want to deliberate carefully as we review the bids," said Marcia Caserio, Pardee board chairwoman. "The biggest concern is that the workforce that has cared for residents of the facility be maintained for a period of time to ensure good continuity of care for these residents."

Caserio said the board of directors and Pardee management would consider bidder backgrounds, reputations in the field of care and whether the hospital's leadership feels comfortable they would "ensure the highest quality of care possible."

"Of course, our hope is that it will be consistent with what we have delivered all these years that we've been in business," she said.

Pardee's President and CEO, Kris Hoce, has said a potential buyer would be given "favorable consideration" if it worked to guarantee that the Care Center's 175 associates remain employed.

"The important part of this is that transitions can be difficult on everybody, especially the staff, the residents and the families," DeLoach said. "If there's a message we can send to those folks, it's that continuing to provide excellent care to the residents is absolutely priority one, and we'll need all the staff there to do that."

Pardee's management team will analyze the bids and present the information to the board of directors at a Dec. 12 meeting.

At that point, three or four potential purchasers will be selected for interviews.

Pardee will select one company to negotiate for a final offer, said Lindsay Howell, a Pardee spokeswoman.

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners must also sign off on the selected buyer before the sell can go through.

County officials said the final offer must also go through an upset bid process.

Pardee hopes to complete the purchase by the end of March. The hospital corporation doesn't owe any money on the Care Center's building and land.