David Rosen’s pioneering spirit stabilized this retirement community’s future.

When David Rosen accepted the position of administrator and vice president of health services at Wexner Heritage Village in 2000, the Ohio-based senior care organization was in shaky financial position, and its turnover rate was nearly 100%. Seven years later, a luxury-style independent living facility and a hospice program have been added, an on-campus medical center is in the works, and the turnover rate is down to 25%. It’s no wonder that when looking for a replacement for retiring president and CEO Richard Lamden, the board recommended Rosen, who had been promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer, for the job.

David Rosen

Uncharted waters
WHV is a $25 million organization with 500 employees, two HUD housing sites, one market-rate housing site, a hospice program, a mental retardation and developmental disabilities program that houses 32 clients, and a 200-bed skilled nursing facility.

In June 2006, WHV invited Dr. Cameron Camp of the Myers Research Institute at Menorah Park in Cleveland to speak on campus. Camp’s research in applying Montessori-based activities to those with dementia and Alzheimer’s has gained global recognition and reemphasized WHV’s desire to reduce the institutionalized models of care typically provided to those residents. The talk also provided a glimmer of hope for Rosen, who has grown increasingly concerned about the financial difficulties the organization’s 200-bed skilled nursing facility may cause in the future.

“In the next three to five years, we want to reduce our skilled nursing beds to 150 by replacing 50 beds with home health and community-based services,” Rosen said. “If we leave the 200 beds as they are, public reimbursement could bankrupt our business.”

By shifting 50 beds into housing and assisted living, the level of care provided to seniors with dementia and Alzheimer’s will be more cost effective for WHV while providing a more comforting and home-like environment. Currently, Ohio publicly reimburses Medicaid for nursing homes with assisted living, and Rosen admits transitioning patients into an assisted living environment without the nursing home label is a gamble. In the long run, he believes providing a healthier environment for those residents is more important.

“We believe dementia populations, for the most part, can be cared for in independent and assisted living environments and don’t need to be institutionalized in a nursing home,” Rosen said. “We’re not converting the actual structure. We’re building more housing and assisted living and offering those 50 residents an innovative method of care.”

The thrill of change
The visual indicators that the administration at WHV values its residents are everywhere. From the development of a hospice house to the completed construction of an 82-unit luxury independent living facility, it’s clear Rosen and his team want their residents to have the utmost in quality care and comfort living.

This year, WHV joined forces with major acute care provider OhioHealth to develop a medical center on campus. Currently, if residents need almost any kind of medical care, test, or examination, they are either transported to a doctor’s office or to a nearby hospital. Even for simple procedures such as a blood test, patients—in any kind of weather—have to be shuttled out of their residences to the nearest available medical facility.

“We want to put a medical center on our campus to create a system where our residents don’t have to leave for their medical care, and we knew the best way to do that and to attract a physician was to link up with a major acute care provider, which is OhioHealth,” Rosen said. “We have a letter of agreement in place, construction
will start immediately, and our medical center will open this fall.”

The 5,000-square-foot medical center, once completed, will carry a price tag of $600,000. It will have five exam rooms and a separate entrance from the residential facilities. If all goes as planned and the program grows quickly, WHV will evaluate adding services such as radiology, pharmacy, and other subspecialties to make the medical center available for people outside of the WHV family.

As a self-insured organization, WHV will offer employees the option of using the inhouse medical clinic and physician as their own primary care contacts. “It’s to our advantage to have our employees use our clinic, so employees who do not have to pay a co-payment,” Rosen said.

Parts of the medical center’s $600,000 price tag will jumpstart the organization’s IT upgrades. In the first year, $40,000 will be designated for IT investments, and Rosen anticipates nearly $100,000 will be allotted in the second year to finish the process. “We are moving in the direction of a paperless system, and the medical center is a jumping off point,” he said. “The next two years are as crucial for our organization as they are exhilarating. Change is often frightening, but on our campus, change is equated to excitement.”