California Sues Nursing Home Chain, Saying It Manipulated Ratings System
The lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general and other prosecutors, accuses Brookdale Senior Living of gaming Medicare’s ubiquitous star-rating system.
Brookdale Senior Living is the largest U.S. chain of nursing homes.Credit.Jessica Ebelhar for The New York Times
March 15, 2021
California prosecutors sued the country’s largest chain of senior living communities on Monday, accusing the company, Brookdale Senior Living, of manipulating the federal government’s nursing-home ratings system.
The lawsuit was filed by California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, and other prosecutors against Brookdale, which operates multiple nursing homes in the state.
The lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general and other prosecutors, accuses Brookdale Senior Living of gaming Medicare’s ubiquitous star-rating system.
The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) is now instructing all nursing and assisted living facilities to follow new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as it pertains to visitation.
Note: Abuse citations include violations for failing to investigate and report potential abuse.
At homes whose five stars masked serious problems, residents developed bed sores so severe that their bones were exposed. Others lost the ability to move.
But the most important impact may be that the nursing home industry was ill equipped for the pandemic. The rating system allowed facilities to score high grades without upgrading the care they provided.
“They were working to improve their ratings, but not their quality,” said Charlene Harrington, who sits on a board that advises C.M.S. on the ratings system.
“The problems with the five-star system left these homes less prepared in the pandemic,” she said. “They were allowed to not have enough staffing, and they were allowed to ignore infection-control deficiencies, so they had poorer quality than the public knew about, and they were in the worst position to manage Covid.”
Nursing homes eye new normal after decline in COVID cases
NASSIM BENCHAABANE , St. Louis Post-Dispatch
March 13, 2021
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LAKE SAINT LOUIS, Missouri (AP) The barrier separating Kathy Miller from her mother was transparent enough that it was practically unnoticeable.
It was the first time in nearly a year that Miller was able to enter the Cottages of Lake Saint Louis nursing home to see her mother, Clestean Stroud, 91. Under the plexiglass shield, Miller and her son Jeremy touched their shoes to Stroud’s leopard print slippers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
“You knew the barrier is there but you really feel like you’re there with her,” said Miller, of Dardenne Prairie, after the visit. It just brings hope.