South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

The Center for Medicare Advocacy has been publishing a series of alerts regarding the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act of 2010 and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. See link to their most recent one which focuses on the nursing home provisions of the bill.

Title IV, Subtitle B, of PPACA – Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement – addresses a variety of nursing home issues.

Part 1: Improving Transparency of Information

PPACA § 6101. Disclosure of Ownership and Additional Disclosable Parties. Effective immediately and upon request, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and nursing facilities (NFs) must make available to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS Inspector General, the state, and the state long-term care ombudsman information about nursing home ownership (specifically, each member of the governing board, additional disclosable entities [which are defined as persons or entities that (1) exercise operational, financial, or managerial control over the facility or part of the facility or that provide policies and procedures or financial or cash management services; (2) lease or sublease real property to the facility; or (3) provide management or administrative services, management or clinical consulting services, or accounting of financial services to the facility]). Two years after enactment of the law (March 2012), the Secretary of HHS must publish final regulations. Ninety days after final regulations are published (June 2012), SNFs and NFs must report the information to the Secretary in a standardized format. One year after final regulations are published (March 2013), the Secretary must make the information available to the public.

PPACA § 6102. Accountability Requirements for Skilled Nursing Facilities and Nursing Facilities. Two years after enactment of the law (March 2012), HHS must publish final regulations for an effective compliance and ethics program, which may include a model compliance program. Three years after enactment of the law (March 2013), SNFs and NFs must have compliance and ethics programs in operation to prevent and detect criminal, civil, and administrative violations of the Act and to promote quality of care. Three years after final regulations are promulgated (March 2015), HHS must evaluate whether the compliance and ethics programs changed deficiency citations or made other changes to measures of quality, and must submit a report to Congress. HHS must also implement, by regulations, a Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement Program (QAPI) by December 31, 2011, which facilities must implement one year later.

PPACA § 6103. Nursing Home Compare Medicare Website. HHS must add to the official nursing home website, Nursing Home Compare, information about:

(1) Staffing data, including staffing turnover and tenure;

(2) Links to state internet sites, including links to the statements of deficiencies (reported on form #2567 and referred to as "2567s") and facility plans of correction;

(3) Standardized complaint form;

(4) Summary information on the number, type, severity, and outcome of substantiated complaints;

(5) Number of adjudicated instances of criminal violations by a facility or its employees that were committed in the facility, including those that involve abuse, neglect, exploitation, "or other violations or crimes that resulted in serious bodily injury."

The information must be presented "in a manner that is prominent, updated on a timely basis, easily accessible, readily understandable to consumers of long-term care services, and searchable."

HHS must establish a process to review the "accuracy, clarity of presentation, timeliness, and comprehensiveness" of information on Nursing Home Compare and make appropriate changes a year after enactment (March 2011).

To improve the timeliness of information on Nursing Home Compare, states must submit survey information to HHS no later than the date they send such information to facilities, and HHS must use the information to update the website "as expeditiously as practicable but not less frequently than quarterly."

The Special Focus Facility (SFF) program is mandated by statute. SFFs, defined as facilities that have "substantially failed to meet applicable requirements," must be surveyed at least every six months.

SNFs and NFs must have, and make available to anyone on request, reports about surveys and complaint investigations conducted within the prior three years. SNFs and NFs must post notice in a prominent and publicly accessible place that these reports are available.

HHS must provide guidance to states on establishing links to survey reports (2567s). States must maintain "a consumer-oriented website providing useful information to consumers," including 2567s, complaint investigation reports, and facility plans of correction.

HHS must develop a Consumer Rights Information Page on Nursing Home Compare that includes information and links on consumer rights and the survey process and state-specific information about services available through the state long-term care ombudsman.

PPACA § 6104. Reporting of Expenditures. Within one year after enactment (March 2011), HHS must redesign Medicare cost reports to require separate reporting of SNF expenditures for wages and benefits for direct care staff, including nurses and other medical and therapy staff. SNFs must begin using the new cost reports within two years of enactment (March 2012). Within 30 months of enactment (September 2013), HHS must categorize annual expenditures into four functional categories:

(1) Direct care staff;

(2) Indirect care (including housekeeping and dietary services);

(3) Capital assets; and

(4) Administrative services costs.

HHS must make the information available to interested parties on request.

PPACA § 6105. Standardized Complaint Form. Within one year after enactment (March 2011), HHS must develop a standardized complaint form that residents or persons acting on their behalf may use to file a complaint with a state survey agency or long-term care ombudsman program. States must establish a complaint resolution process that includes

(1) Procedures to assure accurate tracking of complaints,

(2) Procedures to determine the severity of complaints

(3) Procedures for complaint investigations, and

(4) Deadlines for responding to complaints.

In addition to the standardized form, complaints may still be submitted in other ways and formats, including orally.

PPACA § 6106. Ensuring Staffing Accountability. Within two years after enactment (March 2012), SNFs and NFs must submit, electronically to HHS, direct care staffing information (including agency and contract staff), "based on payroll and other verifiable and auditable data in a uniform format." Staffing information must:

(1) Specify the category of worker;

(2) Include information on resident census and case mix;

(3) Include a regular reporting schedule;

(4) Include information on employee turnover and tenure and hours of care per resident per day for each category of worker.

PPACA § 6107. GAO Study and Report on Five-Star Quality Rating System. Within two years of enactment (March 2012), the Government Accountability Office must submit a report to Congress on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services's (CMS) Five-Star Quality Rating System, addressing how the system is being implemented, problems, and suggested improvements.

Part 2: Targeting Enforcement

PPACA § 6111. Civil money penalties. HHS may reduce a civil money penalty (CMP) by not more than 50% if a SNF or NF "self-reports and promptly corrects a deficiency for which a penalty was imposed." A reduction is not available for (1) a deficiency if HHS had reduced a CMP in the previous year with respect to a repeat deficiency and (2) a deficiency reflecting a pattern of harm or widespread harm, immediate jeopardy, or a resident's death. HHS must publish regulations providing for independent informal dispute resolution (IIDR). HHS may require placement of CMPs in an escrow account. SNFs or NFs that succeed on their appeals may receive the amounts collected plus interest.

CMP funds may be used for (1) activities "that benefit residents," including protecting residents whose facility closes or is decertified; (2) projects supporting resident and family councils and other consumer involvement in assuring quality care in facilities; and (3) facility improvement initiatives approved by HHS, including joint training of facility staff and surveyors, technical assistance, and appointment of temporary management firms.

Note: In an apparent drafting error, the law provides that per-day CMPs "may not be imposed" for any day during the period beginning on the initial day of the imposition of the penalty and ending on the day on which the [independent] informal dispute resolution process is completed. It is presumed that Congress meant that penalties would not be required to be placed in escrow accounts until completion of the IIDR process.

PPACA § 6112. National Independent Monitor Demonstration Project. Within one year of enactment (March 2011), HHS must begin a two-year demonstration project "to develop, test, and implement an independent monitor program to oversee interstate and large intrastate chains" of SNFs and NFs. HHS will choose chains from among those that apply for the project, focusing on chains with "serious safety and quality of care problems." The independent monitor analyzes the chain's compliance; conducts sustained oversight; analyzes management; reports his/her findings to the chain, HHS, and relevant states; and publishes the results. A chain must respond to the monitor's findings by submitting a report within 10 days, indicating corrective actions it will take or the reasons it will not implement the recommendations. A chain is responsible for "a portion of the costs associated" with the monitor. HHS must evaluate the demonstration in a report to Congress.

PPACA § 6113. Notification of Facility Closure. A SNF or NF administrator must provide written notice of a voluntary closure to HHS, state long-term care ombudsman, residents, and legal representatives 60 days in advance of the closure. Advance notice of a termination will be at the discretion of HHS. The administrator must ensure that no new residents are admitted after the date that written notice of closure is provided. The notice of closure must include (1) a plan (approved by the state) for the transfer and adequate relocation of all residents and (2) assurances that the residents will be transferred to the most appropriate facility or other setting in terms of quality, services, and location, taking into consideration the needs, choice, and best interests of each resident. HHS may continue payments until all residents are successfully relocated. An administrator who fails to comply with these requirements may be subject to a CMP of up to $100,000 and may be excluded from federal payment programs.

PPACA § 6114. National Demonstration Projects on Culture Change and Use of Information Technology in Nursing Homes. Within one year of enactment (March 2011), HHS will implement two three-year demonstration projects, one on "culture change" and the other on the use of information technology in nursing homes.

Part 3: Improving Staff Training

PPACA § 6121. Dementia and Abuse Training. Initial training for nurse aides must include "dementia management training and patient abuse prevention training." HHS may also require such training in aides' ongoing training.

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS ADDRESSING NURSING HOME ISSUES

PPACA § 6201. Nationwide Program for National and State Background Checks on Direct Patient Access Employees of Long-Term Care Facilities and Providers. HHS must establish a nationwide program "to identify efficient, effective, and economical procedures" for background checks of workers with direct patient access, modeled on the pilot program conducted under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. The procedures must include search of state-based abuse and neglect registries, state and Federal criminal history records, and a fingerprint check. States must:

(1) Conduct the screening and criminal history background checks;

(2) Monitor compliance by long-term care facilities and providers;

(3) Provide for provisional employment, up to 60 days, for employees and for direct on-site supervision for employees pending completion of an appeal process;

(4) Provide for an independent appeal process for a provisional employee or employee to dispute the accuracy of information;

(5) Provide for a single state agency to be responsible for overseeing the process (including specifying the disqualifying offenses).

The federal match for a state program must be three times the state amount, not exceeding $3 million. The nationwide program applies to SNFs, NFs, home health agencies, hospice providers, adult day care providers, and residential care providers that arrange for or directly provide long-term care services, "including an assisted living facility that provides a level of care established by the Secretary." The Office of Inspector General must evaluate the nationwide program and submit a report to Congress.

PPACA § 6703. Grants and Training to the Ombudsman Program on Abuse and Neglect. This provision, part of the Elder Justice Act, provides grants and training to the ombudsman program on abuse and neglect. It also establishes a National Training Institute for Federal and State Surveyors to improve surveyor training in abuse and neglect, provides for grants to improve state survey agencies' complaint investigation systems, and requires a study on establishing a national nurse aide registry.

PPACA § 10325. Revision to Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System. Revisions to the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for SNFs are delayed from October 1, 2010 to October 1, 2011, except for changes to concurrent therapy and the look-back period, which were published in the final PPS regulations on August 11, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 40288). The Minimum Data Set 3.0 will become effective October 1, 2010.
 

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NCCNHR (formerly the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization founded in 1975 by Elma L. Holder to protect the rights, safety and dignity of America's long-term care consumers.   NCCNHR issued the following Bulletin:

The health care reform bill passed by the House of Representativesbefore includes not only sweeping health insurance reforms but also nursing home transparency, criminal background checks on long-term care workers, and a voluntary payroll deduction system that would provide benefits for long-term care services. The bill, H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, can be downloaded at http://thomas.loc.gov.

As expected, the bill includes-without amendment-nursing home transparency provisions requiring:

1)  Public disclosure of individuals and entities that own, govern, operate, finance, provide services to, and/or control the nation's nursing homes.

2)  Compliance and ethics programs and internal quality assurance programs in nursing homes, and pilot projects to test ways to improve oversight of chains.

3)  Collection and reporting of staffing information based on payroll data, including hours of care per resident day, turnover and retention rates, and facility expenditures for wages and benefits.

4)  A review of Nursing Home Compare and addition of information about sanctions against facilities and the number of adjudicated crimes occurring in them.

5)  A categorical breakdown of expenditures on cost reports to show how much facilities spend on direct care versus other expenses.

6)  An improved state complaint process to help protect complainants against retaliation.

7)  An increase in federal civil monetary penalties and a process to hold CMPs in escrow during appeals (although only after an independent informal dispute resolution process was completed).
8)  Adequate notification when facilities decided to close, including the option for the government to continue reimbursement until relocation was achieved.

9)  Training of nursing assistants in dementia care and abuse prevention.

10)  The bill would authorize a program of national criminal background checks on all long-term care workers who have access to residents or patients--from those who provide in-home long-term care services to nursing home employees.

H.R. 3962 also incorporates the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act to create a national voluntary social insurance system through which enrollees who became disabled (after paying into the system for at least five years) could purchase community-based long-term care, services or supports. Nursing home residents who were Medicaid beneficiaries could retain 5 percent of their benefit, in addition to their personal needs allowance, for their personal use while the remainder was applied to the cost of their care. (See page 1562 of the bill.)

Last-minute efforts to add the Elder Justice Act to H.R. 3962 were not successful. The EJA is in the health care reform bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee.

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law two bills that increases transparency requirements for nursing homes in California.  Both bills confront the failing quality of care in nursing homes created by the lack of transparency in the ownership and management structure of these facilities. 

State law (A.B. 1457) will require licensees of a nursing home or skilled nursing facility to disclose the name and contact information of the person accountable for both patient care and facility operations with each abbreviated admissions contract.  The law also requires a facility issue a written notification to residents and their primary contacts in the event the facility changes ownership.

The California Department of Public Health indicates that from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2008, it received 135 Skilled Nursing Facilities change of ownership applications, and it approved 115. "Nursing home abuse and neglect continues to be a serious problem in the United States.  According to a report conducted by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, 94 percent of all for-profit nursing homes were cited in 2007 for violations of federal health and safety standards," said Assemblyman Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles), author of AB 1457.  Davis contends that the new law's notification requirements "will help ensure quality care in nursing homes." California is home to roughly 1,200 nursing homes, more than any other state in the country, according to the California Health Care Foundation.

According to the California Health Care Foundation, California has more Long Term Care (LTC) providers than any other state: some 1,200 nursing homes, 14,000 residential care settings with varying levels of care, and a vast array of community-based services.

The Governor also signed legislation (A.B. 215) requiring California nursing homes to post their five-star rating issued by the Federal Government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The rating, with five stars being the highest and one star the lowest, includes medical care, staffing levels, food services, sanitation, bedsore mitigation and the results of licensing inspections.

"The nursing home grading system will provide families vital information about the quality of care for their loved ones as the County's successful Restaurant Grading system equips them to make informed decisions about dining establishments," said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. "It also provides incentives for facilities to establish higher quality standards and compliance."

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Here is a link to The Frederick News-Post which had a terrific op-ed by Katherine Heerbrandt about accountability and the nursing home industry.  The editorial is below:

Nursing homes are places where residents go about the business of wrapping up their lives or recuperating from illness, so it's not surprising that many of us have an aversion to them. Perhaps we see a future we don't want to contemplate.  But as baby boomers age, living out our golden years in a long-term care facility is a real possibility. The size of the disabled older population who will need assisted or nursing home care will grow by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2040, according to the Urban Institute.

Entrepreneurs are looking at long-term care facilities as good investments. But as private equity investors flood into the nursing home business, "it's become harder and harder for families, regulators or prosecutors to identify the right individual or business entity to hold accountable for bad care," Janet Wells, public policy director of National Citizens' for Nursing Care Reform, said in an interview.

"The Office of Inspector General says it has found as many as 17 limited liability companies in the ownership and operations of a single facility," Wells said. "Most of these companies are making profits from the business, but they can't be held accountable by anyone for what happens to an individual resident."

This trend, she said, triggered a transparency bill this year and is part of the controversial health care reform legislation currently before Congress. A similar bill failed last year, and compromises were made. The bill currently before the House requires Nursing Home Compare (Medicare.gov/NHCompare/home/asp) to report the number of adjudicated criminal violations by facilities or crimes committed by their employees. States will also have to post survey reports online so consumers can read the inspectors' findings.

It's an uphill battle for advocacy groups. Nursing home lobbyists have much deeper pockets. "The nursing home industry is extremely powerful," Wells said. "And although it claims it can't make a profit from operating nursing homes, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbying."

Lobbying, it seems, is a recession-proof profession. In the past decade, nursing home lobbyists' spending has risen from $25 million to $100 million, according to opensecrets.org, maintained by the Center for Responsible Politics.

Tyonja Bathgate became an unwilling advocate for nursing home residents' rights when her husband, Colin, moved to a local long-term care facility two years ago, and she worked with Delegate Sue Hecht on a bill to allow cameras in nursing homes. That bill failed this year.

Based on her experiences, Bathgate supports any legislation that will make nursing home operators more accountable and their operations more transparent.

Even if you or a loved one is not in a nursing home, she said, you are still affected by this legislation.

"Where do you think Medicare/Medicaid comes from? Those are tax dollars and nursing homes shouldn't be able to hide behind LLCs, or to spend millions on lobbyists. That's ridiculous," she said.

She's right. Why shouldn't the facilities entrusted with caring for our nation's chronically ill and elderly be held accountable for how they run their businesses?

For sample letters to your representatives and more information on the details of the nursing home transparency legislation, visit nccnhr.org.
 

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There was a great editorial letter recently by Diana Rhodes in the Casper Star-Tribune Online discussing the need for updated regulations and reforms in the nursing home industry.  Below is a copy of the letter. 

Congress hasn't passed legislation to improve nursing home care since 1987. It has a chance to do so now in health care reform.

There have been a lot of changes in the nursing home industry in two decades -- not all of them good. Several large chains have been bought out by global private equity investors; in fact, a majority of nursing homes are owned by for-profit corporations. The way these companies structure themselves, even our state health regulators can't tell who owns them sometimes, especially when the owners are out-of-state. This can create a dangerous situation for the residents, because no one is truly accountable for what happens to them.

The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act is part of the draft health care reform bills that the House and Senate are considering. It would make nursing homes disclose their owners and operators. It would also give families a lot more information about the nursing homes they put their loved ones in, including whether they have adequate staff. It would help the federal government get better oversight over these multi-state chains.

I want to urge Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. Mike Enzi, and Rep. Cynthia Lummis to support nursing home transparency and improvement in health care reform. The elderly and people with disabilities in our state deserve nursing homes that are transparent and accountable, and families need information to make good choices when they choose a nursing home for someone.

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Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) reintroduced the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, a bill that would give consumers more information about individual nursing homes and their track record of care, give the government better tools for enforcing high quality standards, and encourage homes to improve on their own.

"Improving the quality of care in nursing homes is a constant challenge. More transparency, better enforcement and improved staff training are needed, and this legislation works to make changes in those areas and improve the quality of life of nursing home residents and to empower the family members and loved ones of those residents," Grassley said.

"Twenty-two years have passed since Congress last addressed the safety and quality of America's nursing homes in a comprehensive way," said Kohl. "As we prepare to debate reforms across our health care system, there has never been a better time to implement critical improvements to our nation's system of nursing homes. And as the GAO report demonstrates, many of these improvements are past due."

In addition to the bill introduced today, Grassley and Kohl released a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled "Medicare and Medicaid Participating Facilities: CMS Needs to Reexamine Its Approach for Oversight of Health Care Facilities." This report suggests that the survey and certification system is significantly underfunded relative to the scope of its oversight responsibilities, which have greatly expanded in recent years. The report found that survey frequencies have greatly lengthened due to resource constraints, resulting in some facilities receiving inspections only once every ten years. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act seeks to bolster the federal government's survey and certification system.

Grassley is ranking member and former chairman of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over the federal health care programs that cover nursing home care, and former chairman of the Special Committee on Aging. Kohl is chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, a standing committee that conducts oversight of issues related to the health, safety, and financial well-being of older Americans. The Grassley-Kohl bill is the product of their work together on nursing home quality, which has helped to generate some positive results in recent years, including the government's new five-star nursing home rating system and the release of the Special Focus Facility program participant list, consisting of the 135 worst nursing homes in the country.

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The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article about how many errors in health care settings do not get reported.  These errors or mistakes, whatever you want to call them, need to be disclosed so we can figure out how to prevent them in the future.  These health care businesses are more worried about getting caught then preventing them.

The article describes several incidents where patients were not given proper care but the hospitals failed to report the problems such as two patients at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia required additional surgery after objects were negligently left inside their bodies or three patients at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital had to be sent back to the OR last year to stop excessive postoperative bleeding or  At Abington Memorial Hospital, an elderly woman recovering from surgery for a broken hip in 2005 was left on a bedpan for at least 41/2 hours. She developed two open bedsores as a result.

For several years now, hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have been required to report medical mistakes and serious complications to state agencies charged with reducing medical errors. But most hospitals aren't complying, undermining efforts to improve patient safety.  In New Jersey, five of the state's 80 hospitals failed to report a single preventable mistake last year. In Pennsylvania, some facilities didn't report any serious events or even the near misses that might have harmed patients.

James Bagian, head of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for Patient Safety, said: "Anybody that is supposed to report close calls and has zero reports is clueless; Management is asleep at the switch and just waiting until they kill someone."  The public can only learn that a hospital isn't reporting mistakes in those rare instances when the health department cites it for failing to comply with the law.

"There is still some underreporting, and we are working directly with the hospitals to understand why," said Eliot Fishman, policy director of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.  Consumer advocates want more transparency so patients can make better health-care decisions.

The numbers suggest underreporting is more than just a passing problem.   Calvin Johnson, the Pennsylvania secretary of health, said only people with their "head in the sand" would fail to see the problem of uneven reporting by hospitals. But he noted that with about 200 hospitals and millions of patient visits each year, it is impossible for the state to check every chart.

While it's important to study each of those reports, it is at least as crucial to identify hospitals that are not participating at all, said Conway, of the health-care improvement institute.   "We cannot improve care unless we understand the problems," Conway said. "There can't be safety without transparency."
 

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The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article about how many errors in health care settings do not get reported.  These errors or mistakes, whatever you want to call them, need to be disclosed so we can figure out how to prevent them in the future.  These health care businesses are more worried about getting caught then preventing them.

The article describes several incidents where patients were not given proper care but the hospitals failed to report the problems such as two patients at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia required additional surgery after objects were negligently left inside their bodies or three patients at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital had to be sent back to the OR last year to stop excessive postoperative bleeding or  At Abington Memorial Hospital, an elderly woman recovering from surgery for a broken hip in 2005 was left on a bedpan for at least 41/2 hours. She developed two open bedsores as a result.

For several years now, hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have been required to report medical mistakes and serious complications to state agencies charged with reducing medical errors. But most hospitals aren't complying, undermining efforts to improve patient safety.  In New Jersey, five of the state's 80 hospitals failed to report a single preventable mistake last year. In Pennsylvania, some facilities didn't report any serious events or even the near misses that might have harmed patients.

James Bagian, head of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for Patient Safety, said: "Anybody that is supposed to report close calls and has zero reports is clueless; Management is asleep at the switch and just waiting until they kill someone."  The public can only learn that a hospital isn't reporting mistakes in those rare instances when the health department cites it for failing to comply with the law.

"There is still some underreporting, and we are working directly with the hospitals to understand why," said Eliot Fishman, policy director of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.  Consumer advocates want more transparency so patients can make better health-care decisions.

The numbers suggest underreporting is more than just a passing problem.   Calvin Johnson, the Pennsylvania secretary of health, said only people with their "head in the sand" would fail to see the problem of uneven reporting by hospitals. But he noted that with about 200 hospitals and millions of patient visits each year, it is impossible for the state to check every chart.

While it's important to study each of those reports, it is at least as crucial to identify hospitals that are not participating at all, said Conway, of the health-care improvement institute.   "We cannot improve care unless we understand the problems," Conway said. "There can't be safety without transparency."
 

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Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal wrote an editorial about the nursing home industry.  We have included it below.

 Recent revelations of shameless self-dealing, massive mismanagement and substandard care at one of the state's largest nursing home chains, Haven Healthcare, have rightly shocked the public. Haven, which operates 15 nursing homes in the state, received tens of millions in taxpayer dollars, but often failed to pay its medical and other suppliers, even at times its utility bills.

When it came to patient care, managers constantly cut corners, endangering residents' health and well-being. Adding insult to injury, Haven CEO Ray Termini improperly diverted money to fund his fantasy of becoming a country music mogul. Termini's name for his failed label — Category Five —proved prescient: His mismanagement devastated Haven like a Category 5 hurricane.

After The Courant broke this story, causing Haven to seek bankruptcy protection, my office successfully sought appointment of a chief restructuring officer who is currently supervising the chain's operations until a responsible buyer is found and a patient care officer has stabilized and improved care at the facilities. This remedy required a Herculean legal battle, which took tremendous time and determination from my office, as well as the court. In addition to wasting state tax dollars and endangering residents, this abysmal episode exposed severe deficiencies in state oversight of nursing homes.

Haven's secret self-serving diversion of scarce resources exemplifies the dark side of nursing home consolidation, leading to a fiscal debacle and endangering patient well-being. As nursing homes are swallowed by corporate chains and conglomerates such as Haven, state supervision becomes more difficult. Byzantine corporate constellations — like the 45 interlocking entities established by Haven's owners — conceal and confuse, frustrating accountability and oversight. Such improper practices must be prevented, not just punished.

The state must demand more financial disclosure and transparency to prevent plunder of nursing home assets. To forestall future bankruptcies or insolvencies — as happened to Haven — the state should impose expanded auditing and reporting requirements, prohibitions on bleeding or abuse of resources, accountability of landlords and other measures that safeguard public dollars and cents — the lifeblood of patient care.

Symptoms of fiscal crisis should immediately land nursing homes on a watch list with the same stringent monitoring and scrutiny as a patient in intensive care, and with prompt state intervention when necessary. I have proposed a package of reforms to guard against abuses, better protect patients and ensure that state tax dollars are properly spent.

My proposals include:

 • Empower the state comptroller to monitor and review nursing home finances through regular forensic financial audits of nursing homes and their owners. The comptroller could subpoena records, compel testimony and review financial information of nursing home operators and their affiliates.

 • Provide for a court-appointed receiver upon a finding of gross financial mismanagement. Currently, a receiver may only be appointed if financial mismanagement threatens patient care — a higher bar that hindered our ability to obtain a receiver for Haven sooner.    

 • Cap management fees and rental payments that nursing homes pay to related entities at the amount allowed under Medicaid reimbursement rates and prohibit use of nursing home assets as collateral for loans unrelated to operations. This step will prevent nursing home affiliates from soaking taxpayers through sweetheart contracts with related management or landlord companies.

• Require a minimum level of malpractice and liability insurance coverage for nursing home owners and management companies.                 

• Clarify and strengthen the state Department of Public Health's authority to regulate and approve nursing ownership structures and agreements. As happened with Haven, nursing home operators too often disperse ownership among numerous limited liability corporations, affiliates, subsidiaries and wholly owned partnerships — hindering efforts to identify, evaluate and hold accountable a home's real owner.

 • Make landlords legally responsible for nursing home repairs and maintenance. The health department should also be authorized to seek appointment of a building monitor to do repairs and divert rent to pay for the work if the home's owner fails or refuses to do it.

Massive nursing home conglomerates like Haven Healthcare are leaving mountains of financial ruin after squandering massive public funding, imperiling patient care and safety. The regulatory landscape of nursing homes in Connecticut must be reformed to halt these abuses.

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