RIFLE, Colo.—A veterans’ nursing home in Garfield County is losing millions and may be forced to close.
A state audit of the Colorado State Veterans Nursing Home in Rifle reported Friday by the (Glenwood Springs) Post Independent showed shoddy accounting and high expenses are damaging the 100-bed nursing home.
The home opened in 1987 and is more than $2.8 million in the red, according to the audit.
The audit pointed out that the nursing home has lost money for five of the past 10 years. The accumulated losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern,” according to the audit.
The audit criticized poor accounting and high staffing costs at the nursing home.
Auditors wrote that the home “does not have an employee with the knowledge to adequately prepare financial statements … in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices.”
The audit also cited staffing costs.
In 2010, the nursing home’s revenues had risen to $7.6 million, but expenses shot up to nearly $8.6 million. The report noted that while expenses rose by 31 percent between 2006 and 2010, revenues went up by only 15 percent.
Of that nearly $2 million increase in expenses, more than $1.7 million was in personnel services and employee benefits, according to the audit.
The newspaper was unable to get comment from the administrator at the Rifle facility for Friday’s report. Auditors pointed out that the nursing home has agreed to make some accounting changes and has already shifted its billings provider.
Until last June, the nursing home relied on billings services provided by the Fitzsimons vets nursing home in Aurora, which also has financial problems.
The nursing home includes a 16-bed Special Care Unit for residents with Alzheimer’s Disease or related conditions. This year 75 percent of its occupants were veterans.
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Information from: Post Independent,
