Dozens of nursing homes were part of the troubled Mission Point healthcare chain that crossed healthcare last month.
Split leaves most of the company's lowest performance homes in mission points names. But two new intersecting health facilities in Hancock and Grand Building are candidates for the federal government's special focus facility programme targeting the worst facilities in the country.
The home, now known as Hancock's Cross Healthcare, was fined $180,000 by the federal government after the Covid-19 outbreak hit 40 of the 45 residents of the home last summer, killing one.
The Grandville facility was cited last year for neglecting a patient with a pressure wound and broken arm. Under care of the facility, his wounds worsened, he lost 25 pounds and he died of sepsis, according to a federal inspector's report.
It is not clear whether the name change represents a complete change in ownership.
Related: Garbage and Garbage Pile: Michigan has one of the worst nursing home companies in the country
Workers at the new cross-health facility turned questions to Bill Gray, chief human resources officer at Prestige Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky, which owns the nursing home chain for the Michigan MediLodge chain.
Gray refused to say whether Prestige had purchased the facility, acquired stakes in the ownership, or simply took over management, saying, “I don't want to participate in news stories at this time.”
The federal Medicaid website still lists homes affiliated with Mission Point, but the name change documents filed with the state have been signed by fame lawyers.
Messages sent to the Mitchell Family Office, a private equity company in the suburbs of Detroit, did not own a majority stake in Mission Points at one point.
The name change filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, similar to Mission Point Nursing and Physical Rehabilitation in another Mission Point facility, Detroit, and listed its $9.5 million in debt. That included $6.9 million for Huntington Bank, $180,000 for Michigan for bed tax, and $250,000 for pay lenders.
Mission Point founder Hari “Roger” Mali said in an emailed statement that he retained control of the Detroit home when he sold control share at Mission Point in 2023.
The bankruptcy filing was “necessary to ensure that the facilities could be restructured while continuing to operate without interruption,” he said. “This legal process will impact our residents' focus on providing the highest level of care, or focusing on staff on the best work environment, and we hope to confirm the reorganization plan in the coming months.”
Related: Michigan had shut down its worst nursing homes. After that it stopped.
A report by Mlive last year found that Mission Point had accumulated one of the worst records of violations and fines for nursing home companies in the country.
Collectively, that 24 homes were cited with over 1,300 defects between 2020 and mid-2024. Employees and residents said that short staffing, basic lack of supply and basic services such as garbage collection are the norms.
Federal testing reports have shown that abuse and neglect are common.
For example, residents of the company's Beverly Hills facility were repeatedly pounded and punched by nursing assistants who said she was going to break it, according to a federal inspection report.
At Warren's house at Mission Point, the patient's wounds were left untreated for a long time, and maggots were invaded before he died.
The Mission Point facility in Madison Heights, where employees of the Michigan Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program found garbage bags gathered in the hallways last year, has been part of the special focus facility program for more than a year.
Related: Despite horrifying complaints, nursing homes remain open. What is the solution?
Healthcare homes intersecting five other mission points: Beverly Hills, Clawson, Flint, Grandville and Hancock are on the program's shortlist.
Federal government data shows that MediLodge's safety records are better than Mission Point safety records, but still below the national average.
According to the latest federal data, MediLodge ranks 21st in terms of federal fines, out of more than 600 nursing home companies in the country. Mission points are half of the houses in 17th place.
Medilodge ranks 31st for refusing to pay. The federal government will sometimes suspend Medicare or Medicaid payments for new residents until nursing homes return to compliance. Mission points are 7th.
