Skilled nursing facility moves forward

A physician from a Georgia-based company is proposing a 150-bed skilled nursing facility for Fulton near this intersection of Hospital Drive and Sign Painter Road.
A physician from a Georgia-based company is proposing a 150-bed skilled nursing facility for Fulton near this intersection of Hospital Drive and Sign Painter Road.

A 150-bed skilled nursing facility proposed in Fulton is one step closer to happening.

Last week, the Missouri Health Facilities review committee unanimously approved a certificate of need for 24-hour nursing center CorrectLife Fulton.

CorrectLife, founded by Dr. Carlo A. Musso, is operating the Bostick Nursing Center in Milledgeville, Georgia, which offers assisted living to parolees or people eligible for parole but with no place to go.

Bruce Hackmann, economic development director at the Callaway Chamber of Commerce, said Musso is interested in building a second facility in Fulton for the same purpose.

The application was tied to a piece of property near the Fulton Medical Center on Hospital Drive.

St. Louis attorney Richard W. Hill said the proposed 58,000-square-foot facility will provide 24-hour skilled nursing care to patients who need constant monitoring. The estimated cost to construct it is $18,520,565, according to the certificate of need.

"CorrectLife is trying to establish something there for low-risk parolees or those eligible for parole," he said. "These are patients in feeble condition and, because of their past history, are not able to find a spot in a skilled nursing facility."

Hill said there are about 600 underprivileged people identified in Missouri who need this kind of care.

The proposed facility will be secured with inside and outside cameras and electronic fingerprint keypads for entry into each unit.

Musso recently visited Fulton with Edens Davis, director of government affairs for ConnectSouth, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Davis formerly worked for Georgia Govs. Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal and former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens during his inauguration and transition into office.

CorrectLife's Georgia facility opened in January 2017 and has produced $235,000 in tax revenue with no security issues, Hill said. The new center could be operational by Nov. 1, 2020.

CorrectLife Fulton was one of nine new projects given approval Sept. 10. A $1.7 million, 24-bed residential care facility was approved for Wardsville in Cole County.