Next Steps Healthcare Settlement

Next Steps Healthcare operates 14 nursing home facilities in Massachusetts and was co-owned by Damien Dell’Anno and William Stephan. The company has allegations of failing to properly staff nursing homes causing neglect and harm. Complaints and referrals from the Department of Public Health resulted in the years-long investigation of the Next Steps.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell said, “For years, Next Step prioritized profit over care by failing to adequately staff its nursing homes,” Campbell said in
a statement that “this conduct will not be tolerated.” The Attorney General’s Office stated that Next Step’s submitted false claims regarding substandard services, which ultimately violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act, as well as the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act which is a state statute that protects elderly from abuse and neglect within nursing homes.

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kate Walsh, is grateful for the Attorney General’s Office so that they can continue to protect patients who are unable to speak up for themselves. Walsh believes they have an “obligation to create a safe and caring environment for some of our most vulnerable residents in Massachusetts.”

The settlement includes $4 million in funds overseen by a compliance monitor and have to be used by Next Step “for additional staffing improvements, recruitment, retention, additional benefit costs, bonuses, overtime, wage increases, and other staffing-related initiatives over the next three years.” Next Steps agreed to a budget for staffing at state-mandated levels.

About $750,000 will be paid to the state and given to MassHealth and the Long-Term Care Facility Quality Improvement Fund. These funds aim to improve the quality of care that staff provide to the residents of long-term facilities.