Bankruptcy is filed for Park Pointe facility

The owner and CEO of Prism Healthcare Group's two senior facilities in Morris has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for one of them.

Lewis Borsellino said of the two operations – Park Pointe Morris Senior Living Facility and Morris Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center  – he had to file Chapter 11 for the former.

"It sounds like bad news," Borsellino said Wednesday, "but it's actually good news. ... It's a plan of reorganization."

Borsellino said bankruptcy was filed only for the one center on which he had loans. He did not have loans out on the rehabilitation center. The bank has given him five to six months to come up with a reorganization and refinancing plan, he said, after which business will get back to normal.

He took out loans on more than one facility, Borsellino explained, and some were not profitable, and he went into default with the bank. Both Morris facilities have been profitable, he added, but the senior living facility was pulled into Chapter 11 with the others.

"The only protection I had was to file Chapter 11," he said.

Borsellino said the facility will continue to run as normal in the meantime.

"The residents are being taken care of," Borsellino assured. "The employees are getting paid. Everybody's getting their paychecks, the vendors are getting their checks, and everybody's going to be fine."

Borsellino said several contributing factors led to him seeking protection. For one, the state's slow reimbursements for Medicaid expenses were a big hit to him financially. Last June, he said, the state told him he would be getting no reimbursements for Medicaid bills for six months. That was very difficult, he said.

"In eight months, we have gotten paid for three months," he said of Medicaid reimbursements.

Park Pointe Morris Senior Living Facility is located at 1221 Edgewater Drive in Morris and is an independent living center that provides bath services, morning and evening care, meal escort, TLC checks, laundry, medication administration, emergency services, and social activities. It has 40 studio and 18 one-bedroom units.

It has been a very well-received facility, Borsellino said, with a one hundred percent occupancy and 35 on the waiting list.

Next door is Park Point Morris Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, which is a 142-bed skilled nursing facility.

There was a near walk-out of staff last summer when employees said they had payroll checks bouncing. Borsellino said that was a problem with the bank and the matter was resolved with a changeover to a different, local bank.

Borsellino said he held a meeting with residents of the senior living facility and their families last week to inform them of the bankruptcy situation and to ensure them they would not have to worry about services being interrupted or reduced.