Lake View Manor has dodged a bullet.

The troubled nursing home passed a third follow-up inspection earlier this week. If it had failed, the home would have lost its Medicaid and Medicare licenses and been forced out of business.

“I’m so relieved to have this cleared up,” said Dick Boswell, administrator at Lake View Manor, 3015 W. 31st. “The staff here did a great job. Without their teamwork, this wouldn’t have happened.”

State inspectors cited the home for 28 violations in January. Attempts to correct the violations before surprise, follow-up inspections on Jan. 28 and March 1 fell short, causing Medicare and Medicaid to deny payments for the care of residents admitted after March 1.

Nursing homes are not guaranteed a third inspection.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services regional office in Kansas City, Mo., agreed to a third inspection after reviewing Lake View Manor’s plan for correcting its persistent shortcomings.

Without a third inspection, the nursing home’s Medicare and Medicaid contracts would have ended June 9.

“It’s good that they were able to pass because if they hadn’t, residents would have been forced to move and that’s very disruptive,” said Margaret Farley, a Lawrence attorney and past president of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, an advocacy group for nursing home residents and their families.

“This is a major accomplishment on Mr. Boswell’s part,” Farley said. “It’s always better to bring a home into compliance than to see it close.”

The ban on Medicaid and Medicare payments for new residents has been lifted. Currently, Lake View Manor has 35 residents.

Issues surrounding the role of Lake View Manor co-owner Charles K. Pomeroy, earlier accused of acting as administrator, remain unresolved.

Pomeroy, who maintained an office at the nursing home and often spent nights there, is neither a licensed administrator nor a nurse.

“The matter of his administrative involvement is still being discussed,” said Karen Sipes, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department on Aging.

Pomeroy has denied acting as an administrator, claiming he’s “basically a payroll clerk.” But several past employees said they were hired and fired by Pomeroy.

Courthouse records show Lake View Manor has not paid its 2002 property taxes or the first half of its 2003 property taxes. The second half of the 2003 taxes are due May 10.