The eastern Pennsylvania company that for two decades ran Westmoreland Manor until it was replaced in 2014 will again hold administrative duties at the county-owned nursing home.

Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday hired Complete Healthcare Resources-Eastern to manage and consult in the operation of the 408-bed facility in Hempfield. The company will be paid $30,000 a month in 2022 under a three-year contract. The monthly payments will decrease to $25,000 in the second and third years of the deal.

Manor administrator Abby Testa and her staff will continue to serve as the top officials at the Manor, commissioners said.

“We can handle the day-to-day operations, but when we have experiences like covid or other outbreaks of severe viral infections, we need a secondary backup. And that’s what this is about,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

Commissioner Doug Chew said the county remains confident in Testa and her management team.

“I can tell you, things change so quickly and so regularly. And although Abby and her team are excellent and we have great confidence in leadership of the current team, those changes are coming all the time. So it’s useful to have an outside group who specializes in finding those changes and bringing those pieces of information to the current leadership team,” Chew said.

Complete Healthcare Resources ran the Manor for nearly 20 years until was it replaced by another private company in 2014 as dwindling revenues and increased expenses left the nursing home about $1.5 million underfunded. The Manor since has rebounded from those financial struggles, county officials said.

But, the Manor experienced other operational issues over the past two years including a Legionnaires’ disease scare in early 2020 and then the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in more than 200 residents who became infected over the past 20 months. State officials reported 20 Manor residents died as a result of the coronavirus.

In October, commissioners appointed Testa as the facility’s interim director and moved her position to the county payroll. The move limited private control at the facility.

Also in October, commissioners hired Complete Healthcare for a 90-day period to serve as consultant for administrative and coronavirus response efforts and paid the company $2,000 a week.

Premier Healthcare Resources, which served as the county’s private manager at the Manor, was ousted earlier this year as the facility’s private operator, and the interim tag was removed from Testa’s title.

Commissioners said Complete Care Resources will assist Testa with management functions.

“The administrative team there now has done an absolutely fabulous job,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said. “The past year has gone very smoothly, even throughout covid, with the administration we have in place. This will give them the opportunity to focus on patient care, where we have a management consulting firm to make sure all of the changes coming through are understood.”

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