‘Makeshift Morgue’ Nursing Home Loses License As NJ Takes Over: Report

NEW JERSEY - A nursing home in Andover has lost its license and must hand over the facility to the state following significant health and safety violations, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge ruled Friday.

With assistance from Atlantic Health System - a major North Jersey health care provider — to monitor Woodland after the state cited the nursing home for health and safety violations, the state is slated to control the finances and operations of Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center until Aug. 15, the deadline for the facility to transfer all its 366 residents.

“The judge’s decision recognizes the unprecedented gravity of this situation,” New Jersey Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman said. “We look forward to working with the Receiver to ensure the best possible care for Woodland residents.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service will seize the nursing facility's funding starting June 25, a move that will slash 92 percent of the facility’s funds, according to the New Jersey Herald.

In accordance with the state’s recommendations, the court appointed Allen Wilen, a partner at the EisnerAmper and National Financial Advisory Services practice leader, as temporary receiver. EisnerAmper is one of the largest accounting, tax, and business advisory firms in the U.S. known for its expertise in healthcare restructuring.

“Ensuring the health, safety and dignity of the residents of this nursing home is the Department’s highest priority,” said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. “The Department appreciates the dedication and commitment of Woodland employees during this transition period.”

The nursing home has faced numerous compliance challenges, with a laundry list of troubling deaths and abuse at the facility with reports of caregivers failing to use proper lifesaving measures.

All eyes were on the facility after 17 bodies were discovered crammed into a makeshift morgue in April 2020 during the early portion of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the national guard were sent to the facility in January and have remained since. Read more: National Guard Aids Sussex County Nursing Homes Amid COVID Spike

Nearly 30 percent of New Jersey's confirmed COVID deaths are linked to nursing homes and longterm-care facilities, with 9,108 deaths — including 139 staff members — since the pandemic began. Murphy's administration has received scrutiny for its handling of COVID in nursing homes, especially after the state agreed to pay $52.9 million to the families of 119 nursing-home residents whose early-pandemic deaths were attributed to the virus.

The Herald also reports a negative cash flow for the facility, projected necessary capital expenditures and risk for filing for bankruptcy protection noted in state court filings.

But Woodland representatives called the state’s assumption of the facility an “obscene overreach” in court filings, according to the Herald, with representatives noting the center’s unique population that "presents its own challenges above and beyond those that present themselves in more tradition[al] long-term care facilities."

"In reality, Woodland’s dedicated leadership and staff moved mountains to attempt to care for their residents, pleading with every available state and federal resource to provide them critical aid during the height of the pandemic only to be turned down because no one was in a position to assist," Peter Slocum, whose firm represents Woodland’s parent company, told the publication.

With reporting by Josh Bakan.