Lauren Negrete and Greg Haas
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Silver State Health Services abruptly closed its doors Feb. 9 and jilted workers say they were left without three weeks of pay — and their patients without care.
Out-of-work employees said that federal funds were misused, but that hasn’t been proven. The chairman of the Silver State Health Board described the claims as just rumors. He did confirm the loss of federal and state funding that led to a shutdown.
“That final check for me was what I needed to pay bills,” Samantha Payne, former clinical manager said.
Payne and others received a layoff notice effective Feb. 9.
Five-year family nurse practitioner Romelia Watson said the problems started before.
“We were asked to hold our paychecks. Several employees’ paychecks bounced. Just most recently our clinic was infested with rats,” Watson said.
While 8 News Now couldn’t reach the current CEO, chairman of the board Ron Clark was in disbelief. He said he had never heard of any rat infestation.
However, employees sent photos to 8 News Now of a dead rat and droppings across desks.
Clark did confirm the complaint about paychecks and said, “There were a couple times employees were asked to hold their check because Medicaid was late paying.”
Hillary Maples talked about the struggle shouldered by these workers. “Not being able to cash our checks, not getting paid for the last three weeks. We’re facing evictions, our utilities are being turned off, we can’t take care of our families,” she said.
Elizabeth Minjarez said she has never dealt with situations in a workplace like this before.
A Feb. 14 letter from Silver State read in part, “Healthcare financing from Medicaid abruptly suspended reimbursements … caused problems with your pay … there is no monies of significance to complete the most recent payroll nor your last payroll.”
Clark said the FBI subpoenaed staff but nothing came of it. However, he said the “innuendo” of investigations was enough to prompt an audit from the Health Resources and Services Administration, and loss of federal and state funds.
“The Nevada Medicare shut down our revenue. They owe us December to now,” Clark said. “They [Medicaid] said, ‘Oh you are under investigation, could be fraud, we don’t know.’ “
He said Silver State can’t pay employees without those funds. Employees are trying to recover money but are frustrated with the lack of progress from the Department of Labor. The organization closed the case when they couldn’t reach Silver State Health staff. A letter cited the current outgoing message that says in part, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Silver State Health has closed.”
The employees have set up a GoFundMe for some financial relief.
They shared their plan to pursue the matter with state and federal authorities.
The OIG and FBI couldn’t confirm an investigation.
Another concern employees raised was double federal withholdings that staff blamed on a clerical error. Clark said he hadn’t heard about that issue.
Read More: Employees owed 3 weeks’ pay as Silver State Health Services shuts doors