Quapaw House Inc. said Thursday it has finalized an agreement to acquire the assets of Preferred Family Healthcare in Arkansas.
"The agreement has been reached, transferring all Arkansas assets and property, minus PFH's real estate holdings to QHI" effective on or around Oct. 12, Casey Bright, the CEO of the Hot Springs-based substance abuse rehabilitation and behavioral health facility, said in a news release.
"Simultaneously, we have reached a deal that will allow QHI to use PFH-owned properties, including all the Arkansas clinics and other facilities," Bright said.
Preferred Family Healthcare and its Arkansas affiliates lost 16 state contracts June 29 when the Department of Human Services rescinded them after the arrest of a former executive who was charged with Medicaid fraud, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last month. Not all of the contracts used Medicaid funds. The department then brokered deals with other providers to take over those contracts.
Preferred Family told its employees on July 3 that it could not sustain its Arkansas business without the state contracts. Besides the Arkansas clinics, the company also operates in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
"Our leadership team is developing an operational integration strategy and will soon provide additional information on the enrollment process for those clients interested in transitioning to QHI," Bright said in the release.
"As you can imagine, an acquisition of this size will take time to work through," Bright said. "We are analyzing every facet of their existing operation, taking equipment and facilities inventory, reviewing personnel and most importantly working to help transition the client base to QHI if they choose to do so. We also must work through the process of licensing, credentialing and certification before fully taking over the PFH sites."
Bright said the PFH facilities will be rebranded as QHI facilities.
Preferred Family operates at 45 locations in Arkansas, according to the company's website. Among them are Health Resources of Arkansas that serves 25 counties in the state's north-central section, Decision Point in Bentonville, the Wilbur D. Mills Treatment Center in Searcy, and other clinics spread across the southern part of the state from Texarkana east to Lake Village.
Former executives of the Missouri company have been charged or implicated in kickbacks and political corruption schemes involving then-sitting and former Arkansas legislators. The investigation became public with the guilty plea of former Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale, in January 2017, the Democrat-Gazette reported.
Local on 10/05/2018