ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County is still being penalized for accounting errors made during the construction of Horace Nye Nursing Home almost 20 years ago.

Nursing Home Administrator Deborah Gifford said the facility was recently audited by the State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and received no adverse findings.

But the Inspector General continued a 1998 finding that disallowed $900,000 in depreciation over an 18-year period for Unit 3 at the Nursing Home.

The county received a higher Medicaid reimbursement rate at the Nursing Home for the depreciation, so the state wants to be reimbursed for the difference.

That means Medicaid wants a payment of $85,000 from the county as part of a continuing penalty, Gifford said.

"There is a continuation of that finding. It has a continued 33-year penalty period. We are working with our auditor on an appeal."

The third module at the Nursing Home was built in 1980, and the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General rejected the depreciation after a 1998 audit.

"They (the county) had been reimbursed based on that submission cost," Gifford said. "There were almost $900,000 worth of disallowed costs, and therefore it is disallowed depreciation."

The county should find out what the finding was based on, Supervisor Noel Merrihew III (R-Elizabethtown) said, so they can try to get the penalty lifted.

Gifford said the Medicaid audits are done about every 10 years, and whenever they are, the Inspector General's Office wants a repayment based on the 1998 finding.

Gifford said they also had a State Department of Health re-inspection. The first one found some problems that had to be corrected, she said.

"We have been resurveyed by the Department of Health and found in substantial compliance. We requested a waiver to remain a clinical site for training."

The Nursing Home is hiring Catherine Reusser as its new director of nursing, Gifford said.

She said Reusser works at the County Public Health Department now as a supervising nurse for intake and coordination services.

Reusser will start Oct. 26 at Horace Nye, Gifford said.

"She has good sense of both the community side and the long-term care side (of health care). She is an ideal candidate for this position."

E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com