Lincoln County A&L Committee approves sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home

The Lincoln County Administrative & Legislative Committee has approved forwarding an Asset Purchase Agreement and Operations Transfer Agreement to the full Lincoln County Board. If approved, the Agreement would facilitate the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home to a subsidiary of The Ensign Group, Inc.
The Lincoln County Board will consider the Agreement for full approval at its upcoming June 17, 2025, meeting. If approved, the sale/ownership transfer would be effective Aug. 1, 2025.

Details of Asset Purchase Agreement

The Asset Purchase Agreement proposes a purchase price of $9.5 million for the real estate and buildings/improvements and fixtures for both Pine Crest Nursing Home at 2100 E. 6th St. and the Health & Human Services (HHS) Building located at 607 N. Sales St. in “as is” condition, with a down payment of $500,000 due within days of signing. This is $1 million more than the amount of the previous contract with another prospective buyer in 2024, and this Asset Purchase Agreement has no buyer financing included. The trade-off, for better or worse, is that this purchaser is a larger corporation with 300+ nursing homes rather than the small family-owned company with less than 10 nursing homes, five of which were in Wis., that had previously contracted to purchase the nursing home in 2024. That buyer also had training facilities within the state to train new nursing home staff which might have also been able to help fill staffing shortages. It is unclear whether the new purchaser has any such resources.
According to the Asset Purchase Agreement, this purchaser also agrees to enter into new sublease agreements with the current tenants of the HHS Building as sublessors, not to exceed the terms of the current leases, which is similar to the terms of the agreement with the previous buyer.

A brief history

Pine Crest has served Lincoln County since 1954 and has been county-operated for more than 70 years. In 2019/2020, Lincoln County partnered with North Central Health Care to manage the facility due to ongoing financial challenges, first via an Interim Nursing Home Management Agreement, then will a full agreement effective Jan. 1, 2020.
Despite the management partnership, “Unfortunately, the County continues to be challenged financially,” a June 16 press release from Lincoln County said. “Dedicated to serving our area seniors, Lincoln County Board of Supervisors began in 2023 assessing how to best meet the needs of our area seniors given the financial position of the County. Through that process, the Ad Hoc Committee was able to learn how senior care has continued to evolve over the past decade, specifically the continuum of services from in-home supports, assisted and independent living and skilled nursing as well as revenue streams.”
Decision to sell/the sales process
“After carefully exploring various options, Lincoln County has determined that the best option for the future of Pine Crest to continue operating as a skilled nursing facility in Merrill is to transition the ownership to another organization.”

“Lincoln County Staff, specifically the Administrative and Legislative Committee who was designated to vet the sale of the sale, worked with an experienced broker to solicit high offers, as a Broker could leverage their network, industry knowledge, and marketing strategies that qualified buyers find drive up the sale price,” the release said. “Equally important, if not more, was giving careful consideration to key factors that impact the transaction, such as quality of care, long standing history in nursing home operations, staff retention and testimony by other facilities staff which were previously purchased by this organization, vision and mission of the organization, and community engagement.”

Town Hall meetings

To share more information about the proposed sale, Lincoln County scheduled two Town Hall meetings held Tuesday, June 10—one at Merrill City Hall at 3:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, and the other at Pine Crest Nursing Home at 6 p.m. Chapel for residents and families.
As of the time this newspaper went to print, information about attendance and what occurred at the two Town Hall meetings was not available, as both meetings were set to occur after this newspaper has already gone to print. However, the meetings were designed to be informational only, with just four items on the Agenda for each meeting: 1) A welcome and opening remarks to share the purpose of the meeting and key discussion points; 2) A presentation from representatives of Jack Pines Healthcare LLC, a subsidiary of The Ensign Group, Inc., the proposed purchaser of Pine Crest per the approved Agreement; 3) Lincoln County Board discussion; and 4) Next steps/closing remarks. The published Agendas of the meetings noted the meetings were to be “informational only” and no action would be taken by the Lincoln County Board or any of its committees at the Town Hall meeting, nor would there be any opportunity for public comment. Time for public comments would be on the Agenda for the next regularly-scheduled County Board meeting.

A bit about the buyer

“The Ensign Group (ENSG) has provided communities with compassionate, post-acute care since 1999,” the release said. “Each one of the 300+ businesses is run independently by its own management team and employees, which is consistent with a field-driven, flat structure. This unique approach empowers local leaders and their teams to provide superior solutions to the specific medical needs of the communities they serve.”
“The Ensign Group, Inc.’s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and senior living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 323 healthcare facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. Two locations are nearby in Clintonville, Wisconsin—Greentree Health and Rehabilitation Center and The Pines Post-Acute and Memory Care, and the Third is Wood Aven Health and Rehabilitation Wausau, Wis.”
“Lincoln County has valued the partnership with North Central Health Care and commends the North Central Health Care Team and Lincoln County Maintenance Team in continuing to provide a high standard of care,” the press release said.
“North Central Health Care and Lincoln County Administration have already begun to assess remaining gaps and remedies to work towards a smooth and successful transition for employees and residents.”