One of Connecticut’s leading nursing home chains owes a furniture supplier over $180,000, according to a new lawsuit. No big deal?
Haven Healthcare, owner of 17 nursing home facilities in Connecticut- including locations in West Hartford and New Haven- owes Massachusetts-based supplier Adden Furniture $183,000 and change, according to a lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court last week.The nursing home chain acknowledges over $95,000 of the debt, according to a letter from Haven’s Senior Vice President Anthony Scierka to Adden, obtained by ctnewsjunkie.com. However, the company disputes the rest of the amount, saying it never ordered the furniture Adden claims it did.Many Connecticut nursing homes- especially those with more Medicaid patients- are in a precarious financial situation, due to the state’s underfunding of Medicaid reimbursements to those facilities. Recently the state learned it would obtain more federal Medicaid funding through a so-called provider tax, which will mean higher reimbursement rates for some nursing homes. Haven Healthcare will be one of the winners, raking in an extra $3.1 million chain wide, according to the state Department of Social Services. Still, even the state’s decision to seek those extra funds did not hasten Haven’s efforts to pay its debt to Adden, said Stanger & Arnold attorney Peter Van Dyke, who represents the furniture company.Scierka characterized the Adden collection as a “misunderstanding on billing.”“They said we ordered something we didn’t order,” he said, adding that Haven has done millions of dollars of business with Adden and that this is but a small blip. “We live in a very litigious society,” Scierka said. “Often circumstances require a third party involvement to get an outcome.“Scierka said he thought Haven had worked out a deal with Adden, and that the lawsuit would be withdrawn “today.” But Van Dyke disputed that contention, saying the suit continues.“Not unless he pays me my [client’s] money,” he said of a withdrawal.