Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Andover can no longer collect Medicaid fees and the owners told they must divest from the facility, according to a statement from the Office of the State Comptroller.

The facility is owned by the corporation which also owns the Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, which is also facing sanctions from OSC over how both facilities have been operating.

In late October, the comptroller’s office sent letters to Woodland notifying that it was seeking to disqualify them from New Jersey Medicaid for “their complete failure to protect the health and safety of Woodland’s residents.”

At that time, the owners said they would appeal the disqualification which was stayed pending legal resolution of the state’s complaint.

On Dec. 14, OSC also sent letters notifying the owners they would be suspended in late March if they did not divest their ownership in the entity which owns Limecrest.

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That suspension stopped the flow of Medicaid funds and also suspended and prohibits them from having any involvement in a facility which receives Medicaid funds. That action was also suspended pending the legal process.

“Nursing home providers who fail to responsibly care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents have no business being in the Medicaid program,” said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh, in the news release announcing the actions. “The State has an absolute duty to step in. That’s what we are doing, and we will continue to do.”

Attempts on Friday to reach the ownership at Limecrest for comment were unsuccessful.

The release said the Comptroller’s office has also notified the Departments of Health and Human Services as well as the Long-term Care Ombudsman, about the action so the respective agencies “can take actions proactively to protect the residents of Limecrest.”

In late November, the Department of Health stopped new admissions and required Limecrest to hire a consultant to run the facility. That action was taken, according to the release, “after finding it failed to conduct COVID-19 testing and provide medication to prevent a deadly outbreak.

“Over and over again, these owners have shown an egregious unwillingness or inability to protect the safety and well-being of residents in their facilities,” said Walsh. “Allowing them to continue to participate in Medicaid represents too grave a risk for New Jersey residents and the integrity of the Medicaid program.”

Problems at the Limecrest facility, which has also operated under the names of Andover Subacute and Woodland, hit the news in spring of 2020 at the outbreak of COVID-19 when 17 bodies were discovered in a makeshift morgue. State National Guard soldiers were sent in to help operate the facility that May.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Limecrest in Andover NJ suspended from NJ Medicaid