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A Wichita businessman on Tuesday urged state officials to force Lake View Manor nursing home into receivership.

"That would be the prudent thing to do," said Brian Powers, president of Home Healthcare Connection, an agency that specializes in providing troubled nursing homes with nurses and aides.

Last month, Lake View, 3015 W. 31st St., failed a state inspection and was fined $5,000 after surveyors confirmed reports that a resident wandered from the building on a cold day.

Department on Aging inspectors are conducting a follow-up inspection this week.

Powers said Lake View owed his company $16,313.

"I've sent them all kinds of demand letters. All of it's 30 days past due, most of it's 90 days past due," Powers said. "I'm 10 days away from getting a judgment against them. After that, I'll file a garnishment order on the (Kansas) Department on Aging."

In Kansas, Department on Aging administers Medicaid payments to nursing homes. Most of Lake View's 41 residents are on Medicaid.

Records show the nursing home also owes $37,721.16 in back taxes on the property.

Charles K. Pomeroy, who co-owns Lake View with his parents, said the home was "doing just fine," adding, "There won't be any bills that aren't paid."

Asked when Powers and the Douglas County Treasurer's Office could expect payment, Pomeroy replied: "I've said what I'm going to say. I mean, if we got into that, where would the conversation end? We're trying to run a business here."

Pomeroy said he was unaware that Powers had not been paid.

"I haven't even had a telephone call from the gentleman," he said.

That's half-true, Powers said.

"The terms of our contract say ‘payment due upon receipt of voucher,'" he said. "We sent him a voucher and he said he didn't get it, so we sent it registered mail; we've sent our demand letters registered mail as well. So it's true, he hasn't talked to me, he's been talking to my accounts person. But he knows."

Powers said he paid "about a dozen" nurses and aides to work at Lake View Manor for about three months, September through November, after the home was unable to hire enough workers.

"I had people come over from Topeka," he said. "I had people drive up from Wichita. I put them up in hotels there in Lawrence."

State regulations give the Department on Aging the authority to take over troubled nursing homes when conditions reach a point of jeopardizing resident safety or financial insolvency.

But conditions at Lake View Manor have not reached that threshold, said Department on Aging spokeswoman Karen Sipes.

"It's my understanding that in this case, none of these conditions have been met," she said.

Still, Sipes said department officials were concerned about alleged improprieties at Lake View Manor.

"We're looking into a bunch of things," she said.

Last week, Kim Lawing, a former nursing director at Lake View, said she sent an eight-page complaint to Aging officials in October, warning them that Pomeroy, who is neither a nurse nor a licensed administrator, was running the facility.

Pomeroy assured the Journal-World he was only a "payroll clerk."

While at Lake View, Lawing was employed by Home Healthcare Connection.