The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has revoked the operating license of the American House Personal Care home at 25 S. 9th St. in downtown Lebanon, effective Aug. 2.
The facility is operated by Hotel Lebanon Corp., doing business as American House Personal Care.
Luis Hernandez, American House owner and administrator, was notified of the revocation via a certified letter from Juliet Marsala, deputy secretary of the department’s Office of Long-term Living, outlining 10 violations of state regulations found at a May 14 and 15 inspection of the facility.
The facility appeared to be open and operating at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7.
Until Aug. 4, after receiving LebTown’s request for American House’s current status, DHS had not updated its public website of inspection reports and licensing actions since July 26, 2023. That failure prevented the public disclosure of reports on inspections apparently conducted by DHS on Dec. 19, 2023, Feb. 27, 2024, and May 14-15, 2024.
American House has had an ongoing history of health and resident care violations, leading to a series of “provisional licenses” while DHS gave the facility’s operators repeated chances to correct them.
The revocation letter says that the license revocation “is based on the violations attached to this notice and your failure to comply with the Department‘s regulations, gross incompetence, negligence and failure to submit an acceptable plan to correct noncompliance items….”
Unless American House files a formal appeal within 10 days, the revocation will be final.
American House was licensed to host a maximum 74 residents, and had a census of 54 on May 15.
A DHS spokesperson said that if American House does not appeal the revocation, or if its appeal is denied, DHS will work with the facility to ensure the safe relocation of residents while also honoring resident choice about where they wish to be relocated.
About 20 of the 54 residents are the ultimate responsibility of Lebanon County, since they qualify for county services through the county’s Department of Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention, according to county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth.
Wolgemuth said Wednesday morning that the county is in effect a paying customer of American House, and that spaces for residents might have to be found in other facilities.
He added that the U.S. Veterans Administration is also ultimately responsible for an unknown number of residents.
Wolgemuth had no further comment at the time, other than to say that he believed the county had not been notified of the revocation by DHS.
A call to the chief of social work at the Lebanon Lebanon VA Medical Center had not been returned by publication time.
A call to American House at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday was answered by an unidentified woman who said administrator Hernandez was unavailable. Hernandez had not returned the call by publication time.
Hernandez has recently been the target of public accusations by city resident Sharon Zook of resident neglect and abuse, which Zook has described as criminal. Those accusations resulted in Hernandez filing a defamation lawsuit against Zook on July 30 in Lebanon County court. Zook has until later this month to file a formal response.
Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to include a response from DHS about what will happen if and when the revocation is finalized.
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