Wareham Healthcare, the 175-bed nursing home located at 50 Indian Neck Rd., will be closing at the end of July.

As part of the closure process, the facility and the state Department of Public Health will be holding a public hearing via teleconference at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 21.

The hearing is open to all, and can be joined by dialing 888-390-5007 and entering the passcode 8108064#.

Those with questions can contact Wareham Healthcare Facility Manager David Laplante at 508-295-6264 or emailing info@nextstephc.com.

The Department of Public Health will accept written comments until 9 p.m. on April 21 at HFLLicenseAction@mass.gov.

Ahead of the facility’s closure, Wareham Healthcare will be helping current residents find beds at other nursing homes in the area. Employees have been given the option to transfer to one of Next Step Healthcare’s other nursing homes while maintaining their seniority. 

In a statement, Next Step Healthcare attributed the facility’s upcoming closure to the property’s landlord, who allegedly refused to renew the facility’s lease or sell the building. 

Next Step Healthcare also cited a recent mandate for increased staffing levels without Medicaid reimbursement as a reason for the facility’s closure:

“This unfunded increase in staffing expense, combined with the elevated operating costs necessitated by the pandemic, and accompanied by severely reduced revenues resulting from lower occupancy in skilled nursing facilities contributed to the landlord’s decision to close the Facility and utilize the physical real estate for alternate endeavors.”

In August 2020, MassHealth sent Wareham Healthcare a termination notice failing to meet the standards and requirements set by the state during the pandemic and for a historic record of poor performance.

On Medicare’s five-star rating system, the facility received one star in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Medicare ratings are based on health inspections, staffing and quality of resident care measures. ProPublica’s Nursing Home Inspect database also shows the facility has a record of fines and deficiencies going back to at least 2019.