Elderwood at Grand Island is set to receive an update for its physical and occupational therapy areas. The project represents the next in a series of nursing home renovations and expansions within the Elderwood network. According to plans filed last week with the New York State Department of Health, the facility will see renovations totaling $739,596 for the first-floor physical and occupational-therapy space. Acquired in 2013 by Post Acute Partners, the Elderwood network includes close to 20 skilled nursing and residential health facilities in Western New York. Last month, the company filed plans for a $585,000 renovation at its Williamsville site to relocate a 20-bed ventilator unit, while planning is underway for the Hamburg site. The Grand Island Boulevard nursing-home renovation will upgrade and modernize the therapy space for inpatient residents, along with renovations to the cardio-exercise and strength training area, private treatment areas, sensory therapy space, storage and several staff rooms. The project, to be privately funded, will also create a vestibule at the second-floor elevator to improve security for memory-care residents. Pending approvals, construction is expected to be completed in 10 months. See full article...

From Buffalo Business First Jeff Rubin, co-owner of Post Acute Partners, proposes spending more than $585,000 to relocate a 20-bed ventilator unit out of a first floor sub-acute unit at the company's 200-bed facility in Williamsville. It’s part of a trend among skilled nursing facilities that are increasing housing rehab patients, a less expensive option than hospitalization, said Dr. Jeffrey Rubin, co-owner. “We are seeing a lot more admissions from the hospital, including patients coming directly from the ER and assisted living facilities,” he said. The renovation/relocation project includes installing a piped oxygen system on the third floor in a 5,000-square-foot space currently occupied by long-term care patients. Currently any patient requiring oxygen must be assigned to a room in the sub-acute unit, the only location with piped oxygen in the facility. According to plans filed with the state Department of Health, additional renovations are planned in the first floor space, where one existing room would be converted into an office. Owned by Post Acute Partners, the Elderwood network includes close to 20 skilled nursing and residential health facilities in Western New York. Co-owned by Rubin and Warren Cole, Post Acute Partners entered the upstate New York nursing home industry in 2013 with the $141 million...

In a discussion at Business First’s Executive Forum on Medicaid Reform, panelists shared their expertise on challenges businesses face as they navigate the behavioral health care system. What follows is an edited transcript of that discussion highlighting points raised in the session. medicaid-reform_discussion-sept-8-2016...