LIBERTY, NY — The state has delayed a decision that would have transferred Sullivan County’s adult care center to a contractor.

In 2021, the county hired a private rehabilitation center chain, Infinite Care, to run the center. Both parties agreed to transition the facility’s certificate of need—the document that allows a nursing home to operate—from the county to Infinite Care. New York’s certificate of need process “governs the establishment, construction, renovation and major medical equipment acquisitions of health care facilities,” including nursing homes, according to the health department.

However, the transfer of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center to Infinite Care has been delayed. After meeting in late August, the NYS Department of Health and the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) deferred the decision to its November meeting. That meeting, scheduled for last week, was also postponed, deferring the certificate of need transfer. 

Without the health department’s greenlight to transfer operations, the care center’s fate remains in limbo. 

Before an application for transfer is reviewed by the full PHHPC, the application is reviewed by a subcommittee called the Establishment and Project Review Committee. The subcommittee allows members of the public to comment before it makes its recommendation to approve, disapprove or defer the application to the full council. 

A review prepared for the August 24 health department meeting recommended that the application be approved. But the Establishment and Project Review Committee deferred the application. 

County residents have been critical of the facility’s privatization and the quality of care it provides. Residents have protested the decision to transfer operations, saying the care center has not improved. 

“Mr. Conklin stated, ‘I believe the private sector can do it better,’ but the evidence is quite the contrary,” said resident Lou Setren about a legislator in public comments. “The rating at the care center has plummeted to one star since you agreed to bring in a consulting agency.” 

With the certificate of need pending, responsibility for the care center remains in county hands, represented by the legislature, which has oversight over the facility.

Five newly elected members of the legislature will inherit the unresolved future of the care center when they take office in the new year.