Cedarbrook Loses Private Management Firm

From Lehigh County: LW Consulting, Inc., which has been providing the professional management of the Cedarbrook nursing homes for the past 11 years, has formally advised Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller that they will not be seeking to continue their relationship with Lehigh County when their current contract expires on June 30th.

County Executive Muller expressed his regrets at LW's decision. "I am disappointed to see the relationship with LW end and particularly for the reasons offered. LW has done an outstanding job of managing our Cedarbrook nursing homes through very challenging times.”

Muller said LW has beaten the budget 8 out of 11 years and delivered better than a net break even financially in 9 out of 11 years; they accomplished both in 2014. He said “Even more important than the financial results has been Cedarbrook's consistent four-star rating by Medicare during their tenure--a rating that was re-confirmed last week under Medicare’s new, tougher ratings for quality of care."

In a demonstration of support for Cedarbrook, LW management has agreed not to hold the current Administrator and CFO to their contractual non-compete limitations, which enables them to retain their roles at Cedarbrook if the County and future management firm is interested in doing so. Muller said “I am pleased that LW has made that important concession; Administrator Terry Hollinger has been critical to significant financial improvements at Cedarbrook this past year.”

County Executive Muller has indicated that the County will initiate an RFP for a new management firm by early April if certain confidential discussions underway don't result in a better option.