By Healthcare Facilities Today

The Amie Holt Care Center in Buffalo, Wy., is planning a $12.8 million replacement project that will include 44 private bedrooms and baths, two levels, a large dining room over looking the golf course, administrative offices and sitting areas, according to an article on the Buffalo Bulletin website.

A semi-private room in the existing facility is 200 square feet and is attached is a 20-square-foot bathroom. Rooms in the new facility will be 330 square feet and will be attached to a 49-square-foot bathroom.

At a recent meeting, the Johnson County Hospital District Board gave the final nod to send a new nursing home project to bid and start construction.

Constructing the nursing home is the first phase of a two-phase project. Once the nursing home is constructed, the board will have to decide whether to move forward with phase two, remodeling the inpatient portion of the hospital at an estimated cost of $7.4 million. The board does not have to make that decision until sometime in 2015, the article said.

While the board is certain the residents deserve a new facility, the fate of the nursing home in Johnson County is unknown. The facility has seen a decline in overall population in the last few years. At one point, the number of residents dropped to 33. Forty people now call the Amie Holt home, and officials expect the nursing home to average 35 to 40 residents long term

Roughly two-thirds of Amie Holt residents use Medicaid. The center is reimbursed $186 a day from Medicaid for each patient, and costs are closer to $240 a day.

Read the article.