Blumenthal
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says he wants to make sure former residents of the nursing homes operated by Affinity Health Care are protected while the company goes through bankruptcy proceedings.
Affinity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week and runs four nursing homes in Connecticut, and Blumenthal will team with the Department of Social Services to ensure that patients are protected, he said.
"My office is seeking to intervene immediately in this bankruptcy proceeding to ensure that patients and quality of care are protected at Affinity nursing homes," Blumenthal said.
"I am deeply disturbed by this abrupt bankruptcy filing -- done without notice or warning to the state, patients or employees.
"The State is conducting a full-scale investigation to determine the causes of this sudden bankruptcy filing."
According to a report in the Hartford Courant, Affinity thinks the State should already know why it filed for bankruptcy.
The report says Affinity President Benjamin Fischman wrote that the State's refusal to provide Medicaid reimbursement has caused the trouble. Spokesman Joseph Tyrian told the paper Affinity is owed more than $4 million by the State.
"We have been trying to get this money from the state for over seven years," Tyrian is quoted as saying.
Blumenthal, meanwhile, said it is the State that is owed money -- $676,000 in taxes.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at john@legalnewsline.com.