Articles Posted in Illinois Nursing Homes Abuse

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nursing home neglect

Skilled Care Falls Short While Nursing Home Costs Continue to Rise

While there has been a general slowing of individuals dependent on nursing home care from nearly 86 percent in 2012 to less than 82 percent in 2017, as life expectancy continues to increase in the U.S. and seniors account for a higher proportion of the population, demand for the services provided by nursing facilities will increase and no doubtingly, costs will follow suit. But supported and efficient services have failed to align and it’s our nation’s most vulnerable people and their families, as well as care staff, who pay the real price. So, who is to blame?

Third-party payors and private entities who haphazardly increase the costs of healthcare services without providing quality care of professional and skilled nurses and staff look guilty. Employing staff and pushing up labor costs only leads to widespread budget increases and less fattening of private facility pockets, but shortages can ironically do the same. Meanwhile, nursing home administrators blame behind the market reimbursement rates of patients on ‘traditional” Fee-for-Service (FFS) Medicare patients to Medicare Advantage (MA) patients to cause the industry to suffer and negatively profit, demanding them to raise general daily costs to residents and families or cut short in areas such as infrastructure and staffing quality workers.

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nursing home abuse

There Are Several Ways to File a Complaint Against an Illinois Nursing Home

With more than 1,200 long-term care facilities serving over 100,000 residents with all types of medical issues, Illinois facilities licensed, regulated and inspected by the Illinois Department of Public Health are open for review and often subject to complaints. Rightful complaints are evaluated under the state’s Nursing Home Care Act. The Department’s 24-hour a day Nursing Home Hotline receives nearly 19,000 calls a year.

IDPH investigates quality of care issues, such as allegations of actual or potential harm to patients, patient rights, infection control, and medication errors. The Department also investigates allegations or harm or potential harm due to an unsafe physical (building) environment. Here is a list of the most common complaints.

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nursing home abuse and neglect

Aperion Care Capitol Nurse Was Never Trained on Feeding Tube Placement

According to a state report filed by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Aperion Care Capitol, a 251-bed skilled-care facility and nursing home located at 555 W. Carpenter St. was fined for “failing to ensure there were appropriately trained staff to reinsert a feeding tube” that fell out while two nursing assistants were haphazardly removing the patient’s T-shirt.

According to the March 2018 report:

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The latest quarterly report on Illinois nursing home violations is in and the number of Type AA and Type A violations has increased since the first quarter of 2018.

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) Second Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators includes some repeat offenders from quarter 1, as well as one facility that received a $50,000 fine for a Type AA violation for the second time this year.

According to IDPH, Type AA violations are given when a nursing home has a “condition or occurrence at the facility that proximately caused a resident’s death.” Type A violations are situations “in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result, or has resulted.” IDPH defines Type B Violations as those that would likely cause mental or physical harm to a resident.

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The Elder Justice Coalition is reacting to a July 7th New York Times article that outlined just how extensively nursing homes have hidden low staffing numbers. The advocacy group is calling for an immediate congressional review of staffing practices within nursing homes.


Actual Payroll Data Reveals Staffing Crisis

The article, investigated and published in collaboration with Kaiser Health News, was based off a review of payroll hours submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  The actual hours made news not only because they show a serious crisis in terms of resident to staff ratios, but also because up until recently, nursing homes had supplied their own staffing data to CMS. With the new payroll-based submission process, nursing homes have no ability to fudge numbers.

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nursing home violations

New Report Shows Serious Care Violations and Doubled Fines For 56 Illinois Nursing Homes

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. The most recent report, dating January 2018 thru March 2018, highlights more than 50 Illinois facilities determined to be lacking in patient care abilities related to the Nursing Home Care Act, a statute that provides nursing home residents and their families with the assurance that proper and safe care will be received.

Some violations heightened with a serious high-risk designation, and all homes received fines of no less than $1,000 while others reached more than $50,000 fines for issues that caused actual harm or immediate jeopardy to residents. Several problems were related to infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition, and abuse and neglect of patients caused by lack of support or inexperienced, overburdened staff. These violations may result in an official recommendation for decertification to the Department of Healthcare and Family Service, or the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Facilities included in this report are:

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The rules are changing yet again for nursing homes who have been negligent, and not for the better. On June 15th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’s Safety, Quality, and Oversight group sent a memo to state survey agency directors telling them to lighten up on nursing home punishments. The theme of the memo seems to be more “keep things moving” rather than “fix things for the long run.” The new rules will go into effect on July 15th.

Prior to the new changes, nursing homes who had any health or safety violations were punished in accordance with federal guidelines. Now the decision of how and when to punish facilities is being put into the hands of CMS’ regional offices, with the exception of a handful of circumstances.

Enforcement of Punishments for Immediate Jeopardy Violations

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nursing home abuse

Opioid Epidemic Swindles Its Way into Theft of Nursing Home Resident Medications

A 31-year-old nurse from central Illinois has plead guilty to resident burglary after stealing opioid patches from several terminally ill nursing home patients. Prosecutors say the man was working as a nurse at Bloomington Rehabilitation and Health Care Center but was actually not on duty when he entered a resident’s room and stole a pain patch. Just two days later he also removed the same type of medication from a terminally ill person at a care facility where he previously worked. Five other charges were dropped as part of the plea deal which will require him to surrender his nursing license and face a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

Nursing home employees can be tempted to steal resident medications to feed and drug addiction habit or may be tempted to take the prescriptions and sell them for their own financial gain. While not OK, nursing home employees are often underpaid, struggling financially, and looking for quick ways to supplement their income. One little pill can be sold for up to $200. Family members have also been known to steal medication from loved ones while caring for them at home or when visiting them in a facility.

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nursing home legionnaires disease

Medical Documents Show “Questionable” Record-Keeping Related to Legionnaires’ Disease Victim’s Care and Family’s Concerns Prior To Death

The family of Dolores French, one of the 13 residents of the Illinois Veterans Home who died from the horrific Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in 2015, recently spoke out to WBEZ reporter Dave McKinney after “newly obtained health documents related to her case demonstrated a litany of questionable procedural and record-keeping practices at Illinois’ largest state-run veterans’ home….”

French had only been a resident of the Quincy Veterans Home for six weeks when Adams County Coroner James Keller examined her already decomposing body, possibly of two days, on the floor in her room. Although state officials deny the claim, her family was told her body was not in a condition to be embalmed and an open-casket funeral would not be an option.

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Understaffing

Nursing Homes with Serious Deficiencies Are Often Poorly Staffed

An analysis of data from Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare website concluded that nurses and support care staff such as nursing assistants and aides are grossly understaffed at some of the most troubled homes in Illinois. This proves something the nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys of Levin & Perconti know all too well. Understaffed care facilities put unnecessary pressures on employees that often lead to mistakes, injuries, and deaths of nursing home residents in their charge. And although we hear of changes in administrative staff, and fines aimed to tighten and clarify procedures as a solution to the issue, many of these poor performing homes continue to receive their funding, remain understaffed and contribute to more cases of nursing home abuse and neglect than facilities that are equipped to provide sufficient care and services.

The Factors Behind Understaffing

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