The owner of four Rhode Island nursing homes – the Haven Health Centers ­– has declared bankruptcy, after a Hartford Courant series chronicled a long history of inferior care at its 15 Connecticut facilities, and the state of Connecticut launched an inquiry into possible misuse of federal funds.

The four Haven nursing homes in Rhode Island, located in Coventry, Smithfield, Pawtucket, and Warren, will continue to operate under the supervision of a receiver appointed by Connecticut’s attorney general.

“We don’t expect any immediate impact on the Rhode Island operations,” said Donald C. Williams, the Rhode Island Health Department’s director of health services regulation. “I don’t see any short-term immediate concern where we’re going to have to take some precipitous action. I expect they’re going to continue to operate.”

The Health Department will probably step up unannounced inspections of Haven homes to make sure conditions don’t deteriorate, he said.

When Haven Health came to Rhode Island four years ago, the Health Department required the company to leave $4.4 million in escrow to pay the nursing homes’ bills if they ran into financial trouble. The department was concerned because the company was relatively new and growing very rapidly, Williams said.

That $4.4 million has never been tapped, but the Health Department could use it if necessary to protect patients’ well-being during bankruptcy procedures, Williams said. Two months ago, he added, Haven Healthcare asked the Health Department to return some of the escrow money, but officials declined because of concerns about the quality of care at Haven facilities.

Haven Healthcare’s Smithfield, Pawtucket and Warren facilities are among the 10 worst nursing homes in a ranking that the Health Department maintains to identify troubled nursing homes, according Williams. The ranking, which is not public, is based on consumer satisfaction surveys and inspection results. The Haven Health Center of Coventry is in the middle of the pack, Williams said.

But all four meet minimum standards and will most likely remain open, he said.

The Associated Press reported today that Haven Healthcare Corporation, based in Middletown, Conn., filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, New Haven Division, on Tuesday. It owes tens of millions of dollars to creditors, including $1.4 million in provider taxes owed to the state of Rhode Island. The company operates 44 health-related companies in New England, including 25 nursing homes, as well as clinics and a medical-supply company.

Haven Healthcare’s largest debt listed in the bankruptcy documents is $13.7 million owed to Kentucky-based Omnicare Value Health Care, which provides pharmaceutical care to the elderly, according to the AP.

Connecticut officials have accused Haven Healthcare of letting bills go unpaid while using company funds to buy a lakeside home for its chief executive and to launch a Nashville record label. That record company, Category 5 Records, does not appear in the bankruptcy filings. Haven Healthcare’s chief executive officer, Ray Termini, is also the CEO of the record company.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today he will ask the bankruptcy court to appoint a trustee to take over the company and its subsidiaries, including the 15 nursing homes in Connecticut and the four in Rhode Island. He alleged that Haven Healthcare provided nearly $9 million in loans to the record company while neglecting some bills at the nursing homes. He also accused Haven of stonewalling the investigation and said it “has been anything but a haven for its patients.”

Termini has said much of the company’s problems were caused by a low Medicaid reimbursement rate for health care services. He has denied misusing Haven Healthcare money.

“Haven Healthcare has taken the extraordinary step of filing for Chapter 11 protection in federal court to protect our company, our staff, and most importantly the thousands of patients and residents that we care for each day,” Termini said in a statement.

The AP said that allegations against the company have drawn the attention of Tritt, who records under the Category 5 label. Tritt’s manager, Duke Cooper, has said that Tritt is prepared to protect his interests by taking legal action, if needed, against Termini.

The three-part Hartford Courant series, which started Sunday, described a woman who lost 28 pounds after entering Haven nursing home and died after being hospitalized for dehydration. In other incidents’ in the newspaper’s account, a woman with swallowing problems choked to death after eating a sandwich that was left within her reach, despite a care plan that prohibited solid foods; and a resident lost a leg after sore on his heel was left untreated. The Courant reported that Haven nursing homes in Connecticut had been fined 45 times in the last three years, and nursing staff at 13 of the 15 fell below state and national averages.

In 2004, the Rhode Island Health Department prohibited the Haven Health Center of Greenville from admitting new patients after a routine inspection found numerous problems with patient care. The ban on new admissions lasted for six weeks.

In May 2006, the regional sewage treatment plan threatened to cut off service to Haven Health Center of Coventry after it fell $24,000 behind in payments; the nursing home paid up the next day.

More recently, Williams said, the state Health Department intervened when several creditors complained of late payments. But although there have been threats of utility shutoffs at Haven facilities in Rhode Island, the bills did get paid before that happened. In Connecticut, one nursing home ran out of heating oil on a December night in 2005, after the oil companies suspend deliveries because of unpaid bills.

Although the Rhode Island Health Department’s ranking of nursing home performance is not public, information about satisfaction surveys and inspection results for all the state’s nursing homes are available at:

www.health.state.ri.us/topics/nursinghomes.php

-- With Associated Press reports