At a hearing this month concerning the state of the nursing home industry 20 years after the landmark Nursing Home Reform Act (better known as OBRA ‘87), Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) addressed the deficiencies of a system that has allowed some poorly performing nursing homes to escape penalties. Testimony by the
State and federal officials announced today a $550,000 settlement in a fraudulent medical billing case against Green Valley Pavilion of Smyrna. Members of the Delaware Attorney General’s Office medicaid fraud control unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Office determined that some of Green Valley’s employees were altering patient charts in order to get more money from
An Orleans County nursing home has been fined $75,900 by the federal government for failing to comply with quality care requirements. Orchard Manor was cited for civil money penalties based on a survey in November. Civil money penalties are given out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to The Monitor, the amount of Orchard
The former owner of several nursing homes has been sentenced to 42 months of imprisonment after being convicted of health care fraud and money laundering. Rocky Lemon pled guilty on both charges. In addition to the prison term the owner must serve three years of supervised release after completing his imprisonment and pay more than $4
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has finally concluded what we all knew to be true: Nursing homes go unpunished for the abuse and neglect suffered by residents. Federal health officials impose only minimal penalties on nursing homes repeatedly cited for mistreatment of patients. As a result, nursing homes cycle in and out of compliance with
Many residents are totally reliant on staff for care, and rely on the federal Medicare program to pay the bills. The problem at nursing homes is poor staffing. I just read an article that discusses the issue and explains how and why it is a system wide problem. The article talks about an investigation that found