State approves plan to close Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

State health officials have approved a closure plan for Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation as a lawyer for the Woodbury nursing home said relocation of its nearly 300 residents should start this week and about 70 employees already have been laid off.

The attorney, Schuyler Carroll, said in court this month that the facility — Long Island's second largest nursing home — intended to close its doors no later than May 15 after talks on a modified labor agreement between proposed purchaser Eliezer Jay Zelman and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East fell apart after a week of negotiations.

The union represents most of the facility's workforce, which stood at 490 employees before layoffs began.

Nursing home employees had insisted they be allowed to return to their union-operated health insurance plan and opt out of a privately run health plan put in place last year — a move Zelman rejected, a union attorney said in an email Newsday previously obtained. 

The facility filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January as it moved to reorganize and pay down more than $50 million in debts. 

On Feb. 14, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H. Lane, who is overseeing the Cold Spring Hills case, approved a plan to close the 588-bed facility, court records show.

Then on Feb. 19, Valerie Deetz, New York State Department of Health's deputy director in the Office of Aging and Long Term Care, approved the closure plan in a letter to Cold Spring Hills facility administrator Edline Severe Joseph. The plan required both approvals to move forward. 

"The department will ensure the facility operator and administrator carry out a safe and orderly closure that respects the needs and desires of — and is as minimally disruptive as possible to — nursing home residents and adult day health care program registrants and their families," Monica Pomeroy, a department spokeswoman, said in a statement. 

The plan, which is in court records, calls for a "target closing date of May 15, or, the date of discharge of the last resident if earlier."

It says nursing home staff should "use their best efforts" to provide residents with at least three alternative providers and that "if at all possible, each resident will be transferred to the facility of resident’s choice." 

The plan also says nursing home personnel will work with each resident’s "health plan, family and sponsors, as well as each receiving facility, to ensure that the transfer is seamless" and "does not impact" their care.

Richard Mollot, executive director of Manhattan-based Long Term Care Community Coalition, which advocates for elder care residents, said forced nursing home transfers can be disruptive and have serious consequences.

"These transfers can disrupt an individual’s medical care, leading to gaps in treatment, medication errors or the worsening of chronic illnesses," Mollot said. "Elderly individuals with conditions like dementia, heart disease or respiratory problems are particularly vulnerable to these health risks. They can also result in a resident being farther away from family and friends, who provide companionship and often serve as an important advocate for the resident within a facility." 

While the facility administrator has laid off about 70 Cold Spring Hills employees, "additional layoffs will continue" as residents are moved out, Carroll said.  

A union spokeswoman didn't respond to requests Tuesday for comment on the layoffs.

The nursing home has been in financial peril for years. Bent Philipson, Cold Spring Hills' primary owner, and his son, Avi Philipson, the business' managing member, have said in court papers they're incurring $625,000 in weekly losses and cannot afford to continue operating the facility.

In December 2022, a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office alleged the nursing home neglected resident care and skirted state laws through a fraudulent business setup designed to enrich its owners.

In April, Nassau State Supreme Court Justice Lisa Cairo imposed a $2 million penalty as part of the lawsuit's resolution and appointed an independent health monitor for the facility.

The facility first asked state health officials for approval to close on April 23 but chose not to proceed with the plan, instead seeking to find a new operator and buyer. Court records show the facility continued to hemorrhage money in the meantime.

Late last year, Zelman, a nursing home owner from Rockland County, agreed to take over operations and eventually purchase the facility for $10 — a sale that, if it had been approved, would have required him to take on $72 million in mortgage debt on the property. Zelman and his attorney didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday. 

In December, Cold Springs Hills threatened an "emergency evacuation" of its residents, a Dec. 31 facility closure and the intent to lay off its entire workforce.

But on Dec. 20, Cairo granted a temporary restraining order James' office sought that blocked the discharge or transfer of residents and required the facility to remain operational. The facility then filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 2.

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