UHS-Pruitt Corp set to buy bankrupt S.C. nursing home
Bamberg County Council has given approval to a contract for the purchase, sale or lease of the Bamberg County Nursing Center to UHS-Pruitt Corp., a Georgia company.
The council, in a meeting Monday with the Hospital and Nursing Center Board, approved first reading of the contract which outlines the "conveyance of nursing home property and assets" to Toccoa, Ga.-based UHS-Pruitt Corp.
The county council at a Nov. 3 meeting approved a letter of intent with UHS-Pruitt to continue negotiations on all of its options in paying for hospital renovations, including the use of funds from the potential sale of the nursing center. UHS-Pruitt has already applied for a certificate of need from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. CON applications provide details about the particular need for a project. UHS-Pruitt is estimating the total cost of the project at $5,076,000.
Sara Maret, health planner for UHS-Pruitt, said state law required the company apply for a certificate of need for the nursing home project. Public notice of the application is also a state DHEC requirement, she said.
"They (Bamberg County) put the Bamberg Nursing Home up for sale because they wanted it to be a separate entity from the hospital," said Maret, noting that the company put the details of its application out so that pricing suggestions could be made and to show why the company "would be the better company" to purchase the nursing center.
Dobson-Elliott said the county itself has not published an amount for which the nursing center could potentially sell.
"It's a moving target. We've pulled all sales of nursing homes and like facilities in the state. When you break it down comparing size and when it was built, the numbers we're talking about are very good," she said.
