When the McHenry County Board’s Valley Hi Committee decided to hire an outside expert to run the new cost-overrunning nursing home, who would have thought there was a local company fit for the job?
But, by a 4-3 vote, the committee voted to hire Cary company Revere Healthcare Ltd., according to Daily Herald reporter Chuck Keeshan The firm will earn $270,000 a year ($22,500 per month) during the 2-year contract.
The goal apparently is to bring management home after that. The article indicates that McHenry County Board member Pete Merkle spoke for approval and that the move was supported by Board Chairman Ken Koehler.
Also in favor, Northwest Herald reporter Regan Foster writes, was Crystal Lake member Ed Dvorak.
After an outside auditor found the home ”managerially dysfunctional” and millions over budget, the administrator resigned.
Mary Lou Zierer, retiring next year after a long time on the board and chairman of the committee, opposed the outside takeover.
“We paid $35,000 for a game plan [the audit] that we’re now paying $22,000 a month for someone else to follow,” the NW Herald quotes Fox River Grove’s Dan Shea.
Below the Northwest Herald article, a commenter wrote, “Check references.”
Its web site has a long list of clients, including the Menard County Home, Crawford County Retirement and Grundy County. It also has done business with the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The list does not say which clients include more than bill collection assistance. An interesting misspelling exists in the name of one client’s locations: “Profitstown.”
A local client identified is McHenry’s Prime Development, which has been involved with county building projects. Other McHenry County clients are Cornerstone in McHenry,
Neither article said anything about the principals of Revere Healthcare, but the Illinois Secretary of State’s web site says Grant Shumway of Algonquin is its president, that the firm was incorporated in December, 1985, and now located at 10 Spring Street in Cary. Revere Healthcare’s web site says,
We provide Full-service and Interim marketing and management services based on your individual needs.
Interim and Short Term Management
Long Term Management
Service Coordination
Financial Management
Administration
Nursing Management
Resident Services
Preventative Maintenance
Food Service
Housekeeping, Maintenance, Laundry
It also emphasizes its ability to collect bills, including “Medicaid and Medicare Rate Maximization.”
The web site says it “currently provides management services to half a dozen providers, including retirement communities, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes both in Illinois and beyond.”
A subsidiary has purchased Copley Hospital in Aurora, with the goal of redevelopment, a press release says.
The web site seeks employees for interim director of nursing positions and collectors.
Shumway is identified as having a Ph.D. on the web site.