SCRANTON, Pa. — Inadequate electricity, dead fire alarms and precarious finances were reasons the state Department of Health cited in deciding to relocate 85 people living at a Lackawanna County nursing home.
The Department of Health on Monday night released a letter sent to Mountain View Care and Rehabilitation Manager Chaim Scheinbaum on Friday informing him the office plans to move the facility's residents. Scheinbaum is listed by the the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid as a part owner of the facility, along with Louis Schwartz.
Jeanne Parisi, Deputy Secretary for Quality Assurance, wrote that nonpayment of tax obligations put the facility at risk of sale. The building did not have adequate power, its fire alarms did not work and its sprinkler system — noted in earlier DOH reports as nonfunctional — remained "out of compliance with regulatory requirements," Parisi continued. The kitchen made use of a gas stove, but the hood did not work.
"Considering these circumstances, the Department is implementing an emergency relocation of the Facility residents commencing May 31, 2024," Parisi wrote.
The City of Scranton soon declared the place unsafe for human occupancy. A yellow signing warning people off remains posted on the door to the building's lobby.
Bill Kammerer, Mountain View’s administrator, said earlier Monday he could not comment on the situation at the direction of their outside management company, Affirm Health Services.
“All residents from Mountain View Nursing and Rehabilitation were safely relocated to other nearby facilities to receive the ongoing care they need," said Candace McMullen, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Consulting. "A listed contact for each resident was notified about their respective family member’s relocation. Effective this morning, the city of Scranton Code Enforcement Office declared the facility ‘Unsafe for human occupancy or use.’"
The facility's issues were also laid bare in state health department survey records.
The health department records showed the facility, as of August, owed more than $7 million in unpaid bills.
Lackawanna County Court records also revealed they’ve had nearly $1½ million in judgements entered against them in the last 1½ years.
The nursing home’s business manager told state officials that invoices were forwarded to the facility’s corporate office for payment, health department records show.
State business records put that office above a barber shop and pizza restaurant in Wood Ridge, New Jersey.
What their role is now is unclear. Health department records from earlier this year show that Mountain View was in an ownership transition.
Schwartz and Scheinbaum were also the owners of a nursing home in New Jersey that came under scrutiny in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when officials there said they found 17 dead bodies.
After other violations, the New Jersey Office of State Comptroller suspended them from the state’s Medicaid programs late last year.
Attempts to reach the two men for comment were unsuccessful.