Lebanon County Judge Charles Jones couldn’t hide his frustration last week with the parties responsible for the future of financially distressed Cedar Haven Healthcare Center and its roughly 250 residents.
But a hearing to discuss the facility’s future, and a little judicial pressure, ended with an announcement that a sale of the facility may be in the works.
The skilled nursing home at 590 S. 5th Ave. in South Lebanon Township was owned and operated by Lebanon County until 2013.
590 South 5th Avenue LLC, owner of the building and real estate, filed a lawsuit last October claiming that Cedar Haven Acquisition LLC, its tenant and the operator of the 430-bed facility, owed it $1,400,000 in overdue rent and another roughly $4,000,000 to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS).
As allowed by 590 South 5th Avenue’s lease with Cedar Haven, Judge Jones appointed Kansas City attorney Michael Flanagan as the facility’s receiver on Oct. 30. Receivership allows an outside party to take over a company’s operations, including dealing with creditors and, if justified, looking for a buyer and filing for bankruptcy.
The appointment of a receiver prompted Cedar Haven’s primary collateral-holding lender, Fremont Lake LLC, and DHS, which funds a significant portion of Cedar Haven’s operation through medical assistance payments, to intervene in the proceedings.
DHS maintained that the receivership order as originally entered by Jones prevented it from blocking the renewal of Cedar Haven’s license to operate, scheduled to expire on Jan. 31, if a suitable repayment arrangement can’t be reached, and that it didn’t give priority to the past-due payments DHS is owed.
Attorneys for Cedar Haven’s operator, its landlord, its main lender, and DHS – but none of the parties themselves – gathered in Jones’ courtroom on Thursday, Dec. 31, and it quickly became clear that they weren’t closer to a resolving their conflicting claims to the facility’s assets and receipts than they were when they last appeared in court on Nov. 26.
That did not please Jones.
Jones made it clear that keeping Cedar Haven open so that its 250 residents and their families wouldn’t have to search for another place to live at the end of January was his top priority.
His voice raised, and at one point cutting off an attorney who asked to speak, Jones told the lawyers before him that if Cedar Haven were to close for lack of a compromise, “I can enter an order making you folks be there when the patients have to leave.”
Jones then ordered the attorneys to go down the hall to the county law library, consult with each other and their clients, and not return to the courtroom until they had an agreement that would at least ensure that Cedar Haven would remain open past Jan. 31. He threatened to keep them there all day if necessary, and said he would order pizza if negotiations stretched into the evening.
“I want you to talk to each other. Payments need to be made, and people don’t need a new place to stay,” the judge said before sending them out. “Do something to make sure the people there are not kicked out.”
Flanagan, who joined the hearing from Kansas City over Zoom, agreed that all concerned were on a “dangerous and perilous path with regard to non-renewal of [Cedar Haven’s] license and the residents.”
After one hour and 15 minutes, attorneys returned to the courtroom and told Jones they had reached the framework of an agreement that would keep Cedar Haven open past Jan. 31 and preserve DHS’s rights, but allow for a sale coupled with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy that would keep the facility open.
Cedar Haven’s attorney, Mark Felger, confirmed that a sale with a connected bankruptcy was possible “within a few weeks.”
Jones scheduled another hearing for Thursday, Jan. 22, if a bankruptcy has not been filed or another solution hasn’t been reached.
Receiver files first report
Flanagan filed his first report, covering Oct. 30 through Nov. 30, 2025, at last week’s hearing. He told the court that he has engaged Cedar Haven Curator LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Priority Care Group, as facility manager. Flanagan noted that he has worked with Priority Care Group on other receiverships, and they currently operate several facilities in Pennsylvania.
Cedar Haven “was significantly in arrears with regard to the payment of unsecured creditors who provided goods and services to [Cedar Haven] prior to the appointment of the Receiver. Receiver and Manager are working on re-establishing vendor relationships going forward,” he reported.
The report says Flanagan and Priority Care “are in control of [Cedar Haven’s] bank accounts located at CIBC Bank USA,” and that “Property & Casualty insurance, Professional Liability and General Liability insurance and Worker’s Compensation insurance are each currently in full force.”
Attached financial reports through Nov. 30, 2025, show total assets of $46,887,459, current liabilities of $9,256,695, and non-current liabilities of $49,419,225. They also reveal that Cedar Haven had a net loss of $222,826 from an unspecified date through Nov. 30.
Read More:
- (Nov. 2022) Cedar Haven Healthcare Center is out of bankruptcy after more than three years
- (Aug. 2022) After three years, Cedar Haven operator takes first steps to exit bankruptcy
- (Aug. 2020) Cedar Haven bankruptcy enters second year; operator wants more time to find buyer
- (July 2020) Cedar Haven buyer wants to nix deal; says current operator blocked access
- (Jan. 2020) Court OKs agreement for new Cedar Haven operator, transfer date unknown
- (Sept. 2019) Court appoints Cedar Haven patient care watchdog at bankruptcy hearing
- (Aug. 2019) Commissioners thank two longtime county employees for service, decline to pursue Cedar Haven buy-back
- (Aug. 2019) Bankrupt Cedar Haven owner seeks court permission for brokered sale
- (Aug. 2019) Cedar Haven owner files for bankruptcy, citing millions in debt
- (July 2019) How do the Commissioners judge the Cedar Haven sale five years later?
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