During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Provider (CMS) has fined 218 retirement home more than $176 million for the most severe infection control infractions that put homeowners in “immediate jeopardy,” conditions CMS thinks are likely to seriously injure or eliminate them.
According to MedPage Today‘s analysis of the current federal data, nursing homes with a few of the highest penalties since January consist of the Pennwood Nursing and Rehab Center in Pennsylvania ($983,840), Life Care Center of St. Louis in Missouri ($495,900), Brenham Nursing and Rehab Center in Texas ($427,000), and Riverside Healthcare Center in Georgia ($384,199).
Click On This Link for a list of assisted living home that were fined
” To be required to reckon with citations and penalties which will draw from funds required to continue the work of battling this virus appears to be an inappropriate usage of our resources,” said Brooke Ladner, senior vice president of company development at Regency Integrated Health Solutions, which manages Brenham. The company is appealing the charge.
” Because the beginning of the pandemic, the facility has followed quickly altering standards at the federal, state and local levels to secure its locals and staff,” she added.
More than 91,000 homeowners and personnel of long-term care centers have actually passed away after contracting COVID-19– about 40%of the total deaths in the U.S., according to a Kaiser Household Foundation analysis In May through October, weekly COVID-19 cases among locals and personnel have actually increased nearly four-fold in location states, University of Chicago researchers reported previously this month
Likewise since January, CMS mentioned another 66 assisted living home with infection control violations at the immediate-jeopardy seriousness level. Authorities decreased to describe whether this group would likewise be punished.
Click On This Link for a table showing retirement home fines by state
CMS fines centers based on the number of days the infraction continues or on a “per-instance” basis that does not take period into account.
Annoyed by repeated infractions of infection control requirements during the pandemic, CMS raised the penalty amounts and revealed a crackdown on outright transgressors in August. The hard-line technique does not appear to have actually produced the designated results.
Market agents argue that fines are not the very best way to enhance infection control, particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Supporters for citizens and their families, on the other hand, state the fines are an insufficient deterrent.
In addition to policing nursing homes, CMS has taken a softer method with a brand-new, free infection control training program focusing on COVID-19 That technique has actually received a lukewarm response. After three months, only 14%of the nation’s 15,400 centers have completed that training, CMS revealed recently
In a tweet recently, CMS Administrator Seema Verma stated “with COVID-19 cases increasing throughout the country and infection control being a major issue, it’s frustrating that more assisted living home haven’t trained their staff.”
The effect of the charges has actually been cushioned by $20 billion in federal funding, complimentary PPE and other supplies, testing machines, in addition to technical support.
Asked if the agency’s dual roles send out a combined message, Verma said no.
” What we’re informing nursing homes is that we’re going to support you,” Verma said during an exclusive interview with MedPage Today soon after revealing the instant jeopardy fines in August.
” But if we find repeat offenses, we have a statutory responsibility” to implement health and wellness guidelines, she said, demanding the increased fines.
” What we wish to do is always work with a retirement home to assist and we wish to support them. When nursing homes are repetitively non-compliant, that [fine] is one tool in our tool kit and one that we will leverage when suitable,” Verma stated.
Assisted living home agents counter that fines just add to the difficulties positioned by the pandemic.
” When we focus solely on punishing companies with fines, this does not assist the residents, fails to resolve the underlying issues, and takes away valuable resources required to make enhancements,” said David Gifford, chief medical officer at the American Healthcare Association, whose members provide care to about one million senior citizens in some 14,000 facilities.
” Excessive fines risk of pressing nursing homes on the monetary verge to closure, rooting out the citizens, their family members and the personnel,” Gifford stated. “Retirement home already deal with chronic Medicaid underfunding, leading to less resources for client care.”
” We do not excuse poor care, nor do we oppose care oversight and policies,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, representing nonprofit suppliers of aging services, including retirement home. “Rather, we advocate for a collective method with CMS and surveyors, with a concentrate on continuous enhancement.”
But collaboration is not what a regulatory firm is supposed to do, said Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, who has studied enforcement of federal nursing home requirements “Congress wanted to have a system of enforcement” when it passed the 1987 Retirement Home Reform Act, she said.
To be an efficient deterrent, fines should be greater than the cash saved by the infraction, Edelman continued, describing a recommendation of a landmark 1986 Institute of Medication report that prompted the legislation.
More than 3 decades later, the institute’s successor, the National Academy of Medicine, has actually formed a “Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Houses.” Its 17 members are meeting this month to develop suggestions addressing retirement home oversight and enforcement, among other concerns.
Contact Susan Jaffe at @susanjaffe or Jaffe.KHN@gmail.com
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