Behind closed doors: Aspire of Washington’s silent shutdown

WASHINGTON — Over the last few months many have driven by Aspire of Washington assuming that operations continued as normal. Upon a little further investigation, however, it appears the nursing facility quietly closed this past fall leaving the vacancy abundantly clear as the drive and parking lot remain covered in snow this winter.

Aspire of Washington, a for-profit nursing home with a recent history of serious state and federal violations and steep federal fines, closed Sept. 25, according to information provided by Iowa’s Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing (DIAL). The state did not list a specific reason for the closure.

While the date of the closure appears in state documentation, the “why” remains elusive, even as public records sketch a picture of a facility that cycled through regulatory trouble, financial strain and court-ordered oversight tied to unpaid rent and fees.

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A closure date, but no reason

DIAL’s demographic information lists Sept. 25 as Aspire of Washington’s closure date, without specifying the reason.

That missing explanation stands out because the home’s regulatory arc in 2025 includes a sharp turn: After a January survey that produced a long list of federal violations, and additional violations in March, DIAL reported that a later visit ended with zero federal violations in April.

“A 2nd on site revisit for the Recertification Survey ending on Jan. 30, 2025, and an investigation for complaints #127879-C and #127957-C was conducted on April 28, 2025 to April 30, 2025. The facility was found to be in substantial compliance effective April 30, 2025,” a Department of Health and Human Services report states.

The penalties that piled up

Federal enforcement records show large fines and denied Medicare payments in the last three years at Aspire of Washington, including a $172,775 fine dated Jan. 30, 2025 which was tripled, according to Medicare inspection reports.

Medicare also denied payments on Jan. 30, 2025; May 14, 2024; and May 31, 2023, according to the same records.

An Iowa Medicare explanation included in the records describes how citations can trigger sanctions: “When a nursing home gets a serious health or fire safety citation, or fails to correct a citation for a long period of time, this can result in a penalty. A penalty can be a fine against the nursing home or a denied payment from Medicare.”

Those penalties emerged alongside state enforcement action tied to a January investigation into complaints.

Complaints, inspections and a 190-page report

Aspire of Washington drew state scrutiny after a January investigation by DIAL into a backlog of complaints.

The case produced a 190-page report of deficiencies that described problems in daily living, medical care, dental care, nutrition and management.

In one of the most striking passages, inspectors recorded employees’ allegations about a certified nursing assistant’s treatment of residents.

One worker reported that the aide “treated residents terribly,” saying things like, “Get out of my face,” “I’m sick of you,” “Stop your boo-hooing, I’m sick of it,” and, “Stop your crying, it’s all you do.”

The same worker told inspectors she had worked in “health care a long time and never heard someone be so awful to those residents,” according to the inspection narrative.

A second employee reported similar concerns about the same aide, alleging the aide told residents to “shut up” and said, “I’m sick of you, stop your whining, you’re driving me crazy.”

The second worker told inspectors she informed the administrator “it was abuse,” and said the aide told residents she would not come to their rooms anymore because she was “sick of taking care” of them.

Inspectors did not specifically cite the facility for resident abuse or failing to report allegations of abuse, though the allegations appeared in the complaint findings.

The report also described basic-care failures. Inspectors cited the home for failing to ensure residents received at least two baths or showers per week, including one resident who went four to six weeks without bathing.

The director of nursing told inspectors it became difficult to provide showers and baths “because sometimes they only have two aides on second shift,” according to the report.

In health care planning, inspectors found staff members did not complete baseline care plans for residents within 48 hours of admission, including one case in which a resident still lacked a plan 39 days after arriving by ambulance.

Dental care failures appeared as well. Inspectors described a quadriplegic resident admitted with a painful broken tooth who did not receive a dental visit despite repeated requests; staff members also failed to brush her teeth though she depended on them for oral care.

Inspectors also cited “immediate jeopardy” tied to pain management. In one case, the home failed to implement adequate pain management for a resident who fell, cried out and reported pain at “10” on a scale of one to 10; inspectors concluded the failure “resulted in immediate jeopardy to the health, safety, and security” of the home’s 35 residents.

Ownership and a web of companies

Records describe Aspire of Washington as a for-profit home “owned and operated by Beacon Health Management,” a Florida company run by business owner Bruce Wertheim of Tampa.

State ownership information included in the materials lists Black Hawk Healthcare LLC as the direct owner, with Wertheim as the indirect owner, and Beacon Health Management LLC holding managerial control since May 2021.

Beacon owns at least seven other Iowa care facilities, many of which also owe hefty federal fines.

Federal data compiled and analyzed by ProPublica indicates Beacon facilities had almost three times the national average of serious regulatory violations, along with higher staff turnover and lower-than-average staffing levels.

For Aspire of Washington specifically, the ProPublica summary lists 89 total deficiencies, four serious deficiencies, $317,770 in total fines, and 56.7% nurse turnover. It also lists Aspire of Washington as a “Special Focus Facility,” a designation used to flag homes with a history of serious quality issues.

The same summary lists similarly troubling figures at other Iowa Aspire facilities.

Receivership and the money problems behind it

While Beacon Health Management owns Aspire, the entity entered into a rental agreement with North Cape Investments.

In court records, Ryan Scates and North Cape Investments of Georgia sought receivership in November 2024, saying the operating companies owed more than $1.8 million in past-due rent and stood “in a dire financial position, with insufficient cash available to continue to operate.”

A court appointed Michael Flanagan, a Kansas-based business owner who specializes in receiverships, to take over management. Aspire of Washington entered this receivership owing $1.8 million in past-due rent and $580,175 in unpaid state quality assurance fees.

This receivership garnered attention from attorney Jeffrey Pitman all the way in South Carolina. Pitman describes the state of Aspire of Washington’s finances and receivership as a grim look into the state of far too many nursing homes.

“A nursing home enters receivership, it is placed under the control of a court-appointed third party due to severe operational or financial problems,” Pitman explains. “This legal intervention aims to protect residents while addressing the facility’s underlying issues.”

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What the records do not show

The public record does not offer a definitive reason for the Sept. 25 closure. The documents do show an organization under pressure: repeated citations, steep fines, payment denials, allegations of verbal degradation, and court involvement over unpaid rent and state fees.

Yet records also show a compliance statement effective April 30, 2025 — a detail that complicates any simple narrative that regulators forced an immediate shutdown.

Without an official closure rationale, families and residents of Washington, face the unanswered question at the center of the story: How does a nursing home’s doors close in a small community without many people even realizing it happened?

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com