Elizabeth Burnette, 80, said she and more than two dozen other residents of Cedarhurst of Madison, an assisted living facility on the East Side, were told this week they have to move out within 60 days.
St. Louis-based Cedarhurst Senior Living said it will stop accepting Medicaid payments Dec. 10, in what a related organization said is a move to convert the 60-bed facility from assisted living to private apartments.
“I feel betrayed,” said Burnette, who has lived at Cedarhurst for more than two years and has no family in the area. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, and winter is coming.”
An Oct. 12 letter from Cedarhurst to affected residents said the company is ending its relationship with Wauwatosa-based My Choice Wisconsin. My Choice is a managed care organization that oversees care for frail older adults and people with disabilities in Wisconsin’s Family Care program, part of Medicaid.
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“We found that our partnership with this provider and the restrictions on care and services because of the relationship does not align with our mission as an organization,” said the letter from Sherry Kizer, divisional director of operations for Cedarhurst.
Kizer’s letter said My Choice would help residents find other housing.
Maria Ledger, CEO of My Choice, said she first heard of the action Thursday from residents, not from Cedarhurst. When she contacted Cedarhurst, she said the company explained it is converting the facility — a type of assisted living known as a residential care apartment complex, or RCAC — to private apartments.
A similar facility in Milwaukee recently did the same, also requiring many residents to move, Ledger said.
“I’m sorry this is happening to our members and I am concerned that it is not the last we will be seeing of it,” she said.
Ledger said the move at Cedarhurst of Madison has nothing to do with actions by My Choice. “There have been no restrictions placed on the care and services members receive at Cedarhurst,” she said.
It’s not clear if Cedarhurst’s Medicaid decision affects its four other facilities in Wisconsin, including two in Verona, one of which is also an RCAC.
Kizer and others at Cedarhurst declined to answer questions sent by the Wisconsin State Journal.
In a statement, Cedarhurst spokesperson Christie Schrader said, “This was a difficult decision for us to make, but we genuinely believe this will provide Cedarhurst of Madison a hopeful and fulfilling future for current and prospective residents where they are cared for in the way which best suits their individual needs.”
Schrader said “a home will be provided by Cedarhurst of Madison until a new placement is found through My Choice.”
Ledger said My Choice “will make sure that no one is left without a safe and appropriate place to live.” She said it’s possible some of the 27 My Choice members at Cedarhurst might be able to stay there if they can afford the private market rates, which typically are higher.
Mitchell Hagopian, an attorney with Disability Rights Wisconsin, said, “This is a symptom of a much larger problem. Residential providers in the Family Care program are leaving it in droves.”
The state Department of Health Services said it wasn’t able to immediately respond to questions received Friday afternoon about how many residential providers have left Family Care.
Burnette, a retired nurse who uses a wheelchair, said she and other residents who must leave Cedarhurst are distraught and confused.
“All of us are disabled in one way or another,” she said. “I feel like I have no home.”
RCACs, often referred to as independent living apartments, are one of three types of assisted living facilities in Wisconsin. The others are community-based residential facilities, which mostly serve the elderly, and adult family homes, which mostly serve people with developmental, mental or physical disabilities.
Unlike the other two types, which must be licensed by the state, RCACs don’t have regular oversight if they don’t take public funding.
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