The new owners of The Moorings at Lewes say they can’t find records of $1.1 million from the facility when it was called Cadbury at Lewes.
Updated Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m. with comments from the community’s parent company
A second Delaware nursing home has earned the unique distinction of being “unauditable,” according to State Auditor Kathy McGuinness.
The Cadbury at Lewes Senior Living Community, now known as The Moorings at Lewes, failed to provide documentation supporting approximately $1.1 million in costs — or 18% of its total expenses — in 2016.
“I certainly understand that all long-term care facilities were hit hard by the pandemic and needed to focus resources on caring for their residents, but the new management at Cadbury at Lewes was unable to access the necessary records that the previous administration used to support its Medicaid Cost Report,” McGuiness said in a press release. “That rendered portions of the cost report unauditable.”
The auditor’s announcement comes just over a month after her office declared the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Newark unauditable when its administration failed to document over $4 million in costs and charges relating to Medicaid activities.
The Moorings at Lewes and the Jeanne Jugan Residence were two of six Delaware facilities audited in the last fiscal year. Long-term care centers are audited on a rotating basis with facilities usually facing review every 6 to 8 years.
In 2017 Cadbury at Lewes became an affiliate of Springpoint Senior Living, a New Jersey-based nonprofit provider of housing and services for seniors. The lapse in documentation happened in 2016, before the reorganization.
“We fully cooperated with the state and we’re looking forward to the next audit,” said Julia Zauner, vice president of marketing with Springpoint Senior Living. “We’re sure that everything will be in order when the next audit is conducted.”
According to the auditor’s report, the facility did not provide a general ledger for the period under examination. After changing ownership, the new management was unable to access certain records that were utilized to prepare the cost report.
The report said COVID-19 created hardships for the facility preventing them from devoting resources to provide the requested information.
That shouldn’t be a problem moving further, Zauner said, as Springpoint will now require The Moorings at Lewes to follow the new owner’s strict record-keeping policies.
“Because they’re part of our Springpoint family, they’re now going to benefit from our comprehensive record-keeping and data retention policies and practices,” she said.
Since Springpoint was founded in 1916, the company has never had a community deemed unauditable, according to Zauner.
Springpoint’s record-keeping policies require general ledger, payroll and other financial records to be retained for a minimum of seven years.
McGuinness recognized that the accounting failure happened before the facility came under new management, but said “keeping track of this type of financial documentation should be part of every transaction.”
The facility will now face an additional audit in FY 2022 for its 2018 Medicaid Cost Report and Nursing Wage Survey.
Send story tips or ideas to Charlie Megginson at [email protected] or (302) 344-8293.
Charlie Megginson covers government and politics for Delaware LIVE News. Reach him at (302) 344-8293 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @cmegginson4.
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