ST. LOUIS — Thirty-four days. That's how long leaders at a century-old nursing school in St. Louis have to turn things around, a deadline given by a state oversight board concerned with low test rates, staff turnover, and funding issues.
Lutheran School of Nursing first came under review by the Missouri State Board of Nursing in 2015 while licensing test scores dropped below 80%. But there have been four site visits in recent years, and scrutiny came to a head Thursday at a conference call between Lutheran staff, administrators with the operating hospital St. Alexius, and ownership group Americore Holdings.
The board convened the phone meeting Thursday at the request of then-director, Allie Webster, who notified the oversight board Dec. 2 that the school would need to close, citing a lack of funding.
Webster no longer works at the school and was called a "rouge leader" Thursday by a former coworker.
Lutheran notified potential nursing school candidates on Dec. 3 that the program wasn't accepting new students, just weeks before they were scheduled to begin clinical courses.
"We have received multiple multiple calls from students asking about that, and so the unrest at the school continues," a board member said during the roughly one-hour conference call.
Hospital leaders submitted a two-page "sustainability plan" to the board, laying out intentions to create a school budget overseen by the program administrator would control the budget. Other spending decisions would be made by a Budget Committee -- including the same program administrator plus various faculty and some students. The school also now has its own bank account, separate from the hospital's general account.
But the board didn't seem satisfied by the proposal. Instead, they continued the matter to Jan. 25, at which time the relevant parties will have to provide the board with a "plan of correction" for fixing 18 "deficiencies."
"We expect every deficiency to be addressed and evidence of those deficiencies to have been completed," Board Executive Director Lori Scheidt said. "And we want evidence of that, not just that you’re going to do it. We need evidence ion a fashion that the board can validate that."
Americore founder Grant White said the hospital's "balance sheet has improved greatly" since his company took over services in March.
But a board member expressed concerned over funding, pointing to a Nov. 1 conversation in which she said two St. Alexius leaders implied "that there would be an infusion of about $15 million to the hospital and that the school of nursing would gain financial stability from that.... which we have not seen any evidence of that."
Lutheran's 2020 budget shows a "new owner investment" of about $970,000.
The school's set to graduate their next round of new nurses on Feb. 16.
School leaders will present the results of their correction plan to the board Feb. 26.
A Virginia hospital board cut ties with Americore earlier this year.
An Americore-owned hospital in Ellwood City, PA closed this week for the rest of the year, amid layoffs and other issues.
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