Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation calls off closure after dozens of residents moved, workers laid off
Long Island's second largest nursing home has reversed its plans to close after an agreement was reached between the labor union representing Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation employees and the Woodbury facility's proposed buyer.
The surprise emerged Wednesday morning during a proceeding in the nursing home's federal bankruptcy court proceeding.
It comes more than a week after the New York State Department of Health approved a closure plan for Cold Spring Hills, and after the transfers of 77 residents to other long-term care facilities and the layoffs of 150 employees in a workforce of about 500 people.
It wasn't immediately clear what will happen to the residents who have been moved out or the staff who have lost their jobs.
The agreement on a modified labor deal now will allow proposed purchaser Eliezer Jay Zelman to take over as temporary receiver of Cold Spring Hills and to eventually become the facility's owner, pending approval by state health officials, said Schuyler Carroll, the nursing home's attorney in the bankruptcy case.
The deal, Carroll said in a March 4 letter to the bankruptcy court, will prevent the need to "close the debtor’s facility" and will allow Zelman to immediately take over operations.
"This is particularly important because the debtor has just barely managed to fund payroll and other ongoing expenses — having been required to manage cash flow day by day," Carroll wrote in the letter. "Immediate approval of the sale and receivership will allow the debtor to avoid administrative insolvency."
Newsday reported last month that Cold Spring Hills intended to close its doors no later than May 15 after talks on a modified labor agreement between Zelman and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East fell apart after a week of negotiations.
The central holdup, officials said at the time, was about worker health care.
Nursing home employees had insisted they be allowed to return to their union-operated health insurance plan and opt out of a privately-run health plan put in place last year — a move Zelman rejected, a union attorney said in an email Newsday previously obtained.
It wasn't immediately clear Wednesday what the modified collective bargaining agreement states or which health insurance plan Cold Spring Hills employees will be able to opt into.
Ryan Barbur, an attorney representing the union, confirmed during the court proceeding that the parties have "reached an agreement in principle" and that "labor counsel for the union is drafting and reviewing that document as we speak."
The state Health Department previously approved Zelman’s application to become the nursing home’s temporary receiver and later approved the closure plan when the labor deal negotiations fell apart.
On Wednesday, Enid Stuart, special bankruptcy counsel at New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which represents the health department, told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H. Lane the agreement to save the facility came as a "surprise" and state officials needed time to assess the latest developments.
"The Department of Health is the regulator," Stuart said. "Their sole purpose here is to ensure the health and safety of the patients. There are, most importantly, questions that the department has to understand in terms of what is going to happen to the patients that have been moved."
David Hillman, an attorney representing Zelman, agreed there are many questions that cannot be answered until the labor deal is formalized in the memorandum of agreement.
"People … need facts, and right now … we don't have those facts yet," Hillman said during Wednesday’s hearing.
Check back later for more on this developing story.
Long Island's second largest nursing home has reversed its plans to close after an agreement was reached between the labor union representing Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation employees and the Woodbury facility's proposed buyer.
The surprise emerged Wednesday morning during a proceeding in the nursing home's federal bankruptcy court proceeding.
It comes more than a week after the New York State Department of Health approved a closure plan for Cold Spring Hills, and after the transfers of 77 residents to other long-term care facilities and the layoffs of 150 employees in a workforce of about 500 people.
It wasn't immediately clear what will happen to the residents who have been moved out or the staff who have lost their jobs.
The agreement on a modified labor deal now will allow proposed purchaser Eliezer Jay Zelman to take over as temporary receiver of Cold Spring Hills and to eventually become the facility's owner, pending approval by state health officials, said Schuyler Carroll, the nursing home's attorney in the bankruptcy case.
The deal, Carroll said in a March 4 letter to the bankruptcy court, will prevent the need to "close the debtor’s facility" and will allow Zelman to immediately take over operations.
"This is particularly important because the debtor has just barely managed to fund payroll and other ongoing expenses — having been required to manage cash flow day by day," Carroll wrote in the letter. "Immediate approval of the sale and receivership will allow the debtor to avoid administrative insolvency."
Newsday reported last month that Cold Spring Hills intended to close its doors no later than May 15 after talks on a modified labor agreement between Zelman and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East fell apart after a week of negotiations.
The central holdup, officials said at the time, was about worker health care.
Nursing home employees had insisted they be allowed to return to their union-operated health insurance plan and opt out of a privately-run health plan put in place last year — a move Zelman rejected, a union attorney said in an email Newsday previously obtained.
It wasn't immediately clear Wednesday what the modified collective bargaining agreement states or which health insurance plan Cold Spring Hills employees will be able to opt into.
Ryan Barbur, an attorney representing the union, confirmed during the court proceeding that the parties have "reached an agreement in principle" and that "labor counsel for the union is drafting and reviewing that document as we speak."
The state Health Department previously approved Zelman’s application to become the nursing home’s temporary receiver and later approved the closure plan when the labor deal negotiations fell apart.
On Wednesday, Enid Stuart, special bankruptcy counsel at New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, which represents the health department, told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H. Lane the agreement to save the facility came as a "surprise" and state officials needed time to assess the latest developments.
"The Department of Health is the regulator," Stuart said. "Their sole purpose here is to ensure the health and safety of the patients. There are, most importantly, questions that the department has to understand in terms of what is going to happen to the patients that have been moved."
David Hillman, an attorney representing Zelman, agreed there are many questions that cannot be answered until the labor deal is formalized in the memorandum of agreement.
"People … need facts, and right now … we don't have those facts yet," Hillman said during Wednesday’s hearing.
Check back later for more on this developing story.
