The state of Ohio and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conduct routine inspections, investigations, and surveys on every nursing home statewide. These investigations and surveys help to identify serious problems, deficiencies, health hazards, and violations. As a result, Columbus personal injury attorneys have seen a significant increase in the numbers of victims they’ve represented a nursing home abuse and neglect cases occurring throughout Ohio.
In egregious cases, regulators might designate the nursing home as a Special Focus Facility (SFF) and placed their name on the national Medicare deficiency watch list. If the facility failed to make sufficient changes to improve the quality of care to their residents, they could lose their contract to provide services to Medicare and Medicaid-funded patients.
Recently, regulators designated Eastland Health Care and Rehabilitation Center as a Special Focus Facility. Now that the nursing home has been added to the watch list, regulators, inspectors, and investigators will keep a watchful eye on the facility to ensure any improvements remain permanent. Some major concerns, deficiencies, and violations involving this facility are listed below.
This Nursing Facility is a ‘for profit’ Home providing services to residents of East Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio. The Medicaid/Medicare-participating 93-certified bed Center is located at:
2425 Kimberly Parkway
East Columbus, OH 43232
(614) 868-9306
Regulators are legally authorized to impose monetary penalties against any facility identified with serious problems, deficiencies, and violations. These fines are meant to encourage better performance and demand certain changes be made to policies and procedures.
Over the last thirty-six months, regulators have levied three significant fines against Eastland Health Care and Rehabilitation Center. These include a $36,595 fine on November 20, 2015, a $25,284 fine on September 13, 2016, at $28,548 fine on February 2, 2017. Medicare also denied a request for payment on September 13, 2016, due to substandard care. During the same time, regulators handled twenty-six formally filed complaints and two facility-reported issues that after investigations all resulted in citations.
The state of Illinois and the federal government regularly update their nursing home database system with complete details of all safety concerns, opened investigations, incident inquiries, health violations, dangerous hazards, and filed complaints. The search results can be found on numerous sites including Medicare.gov. Many families use this data as an effective way to determine where to place a loved one who requires the highest level of skilled nursing care, assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), and hygiene services.
Currently, Eastland Health Care & Rehabilitation Center maintains an overall two out of five stars compared to all nursing homes in the United States. This ranking includes one out of five stars for health inspections, three out of five stars for staffing issues, and five stars for quality measures. Recent serious problems, deficiencies, violations, and health hazards concerning this facility include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 16, 2016, a state surveyor opened a formal complaint against the facility to identify failures. The investigator noted the facility failed to “prevent an incident of verbal abuse involving [a resident].” The investigator reviewed the resident’s medical record that revealed that “there were no behaviors noted on November 15, 2016. The resident went to the hospital for nausea and vomiting and returned to the facility …with no new diagnoses. There was a physician order dated November 15, 2016, for anti-nausea medication …to be administered every four hours as needed [PRN] for nausea and vomiting.”
The state investigator interviewed the resident on the morning of November 16, 2016, who revealed that “he felt the Director of Nursing was aggressive with him in how she spoke to him yesterday (November 15, 2016) eating. He felt she was rude. He said it hurt his feelings and was upset about the situation. He said the incident happened to yesterday in the shower room and set others witnessed it.”
A review of the facility’s Self-reported incidents revealed that there were no reported incidents submitted on November 15, 2016, or on the morning of November 16, 2016.” This [failure] led the investigator to interview a Licensed Practical Nurse that morning who revealed that “she had observed another staff member being abusive towards a resident.” Further review of the incident “revealed a concerned witness [involving] the Director of Nursing.” The Licensed Practical Nurse stated that “the incident had occurred last night around dinner time in the shower room.” The Licensed Practical Nurse “stated she was in the hallway at the time of the incident [and] described the Director of Nursing as being aggressive and being loud and disrespectful to [the resident].”
The Licensed Practical Nurse stated that “she went and told the Administrator immediately when she heard the Director of Nursing talking to the resident like that.” The LPN stated that “the Administrator immediately left after office and went to go speak to the Director Nursing in the Director’s office.” The LPN stated she did not go into the shower room to protect the resident but said he seemed fine when he left the shower room.” The LPN then said that the resident “was listening to his music.”
However, during an interview with the Administrator on the same morning of November 16, 2016, it was revealed that “she had not received any allegations of abuse in the last 24 hours and stated that the last allegation of abuse was sometime last week.” The state investigator then interviewed the Director of Nursing who revealed “she had not received any allegations of abuse in the last 24 hours. The surveyor noted that the Director “was present and unsupervised in the facility at this time.”
During an interview with the Administrator, it was revealed that “she denied [that] anyone [told] her that the Director of Nursing was …verbally abusive toward a resident. The administrator further denied any incidents that occurred last night, but she said she would look into it.” At 11:40 AM the same morning, the Administrator stated that “she had not begun any …investigation related to the allegation of verbal abuse allegation involving the Director of Nursing and [the resident] because she did not have any more information.” The surveyor noted that neither the Director of Nursing or the Administrator “recall an incident with the resident that occurred yesterday around dinner time.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 7, 2017, a formal complaint investigation was opened by a state investigator against the facility to identify failures. The investigator documented the facility’s failure to “prevent the misappropriation of resident funds.” The deficient practice by the administration affected seven residents “identified in [five] facility self-reported incidents that had the potential to affect 134 residents included in an ongoing facility investigation related to misappropriation of funds.” The deficiency involved “a forensic audit [concerning] missing funds.”
The facility Administrator “indicated the facility believed the forensic audit would reveal a substantial amount of money had been embezzled from the 134 residents [at the facility].” The Administrator then “confirmed the facility would be paying restitution for all missing funds.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated February 16, 2017, a formal complaint investigation was opened by the state surveyor against the facility to identify failures. The survey team noted the facility’s failure “to properly assess and provide care and treatment for a resident experiencing respiratory difficulty.”
A documented deficiency also included a failure “to provide action to residents as ordered by the physician. This [deficiency] affected [two residents] who received oxygen therapy. Harm occurred to [one resident] when the facility staff failed to thoroughly assess the resident’s respiratory status, resulting in the resident notifying emergency services and subsequent hospitalization for treatment.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated December 16, 2017, the state investigator opened a complaint investigation against the facility to determine failures. The survey team documented the facility had failed to “ensure qualified nursing staff was on duty to administer [a resident’s] physician ordered intravenous (IV) antibiotics via peripherally inserted central catheter “PICC) line.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff “affected one resident reviewed for IV therapy.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated February 2, 2017, a state surveying agency opened a formal complaint against the nursing home to identify failures. The agency determined the facility had failed to ensure a cognitively impaired resident’s “family and physician were notified timely of an injury sustained during an elopement [wandering] attempt.”
The state investigator interviewed a Registered Nurse on the afternoon of January 6, 2017, the revealed that the resident walked “off the unit. All attempt to make the resident come back to the unit were unsuccessful. The resident was stopped and brought back to the unit when he tried to exit the facility. The resident kept seeking to exit and at times threatened to hurt the staff.” The staff gave the resident a medication intramuscularly “with a positive outcome.”
On January 9, 2017, at 8:17 PM, the resident’s “family came to visit and found a bandage on [the resident’s] right hand. The nurse opened the bandage to find two cuts with drainage. The area was cleaned, and triple antibiotic ointment was applied per the physician order. The wife and the Physician were notified.”
The investigator reviewed a Quarterly Care Conference Summary that revealed that Social Service and Nursing attended the conference with the resident’s wife attending over the telephone. The resident’s wife had concerns “with the wound on [the resident’s] right hand [relating to] the incident when he tried to leave the unit. The wound care for [the resident’s] right-hand injury as explained by nursing [relatied to] the incident when the resident had tried to exit seek. It was also explained that the staff had attempted to redirect [the resident], but he was aggressive and behavior and verbally threatening staff, but that he eventually was able to be redirected back to his fall.”
The state investigator interviewed the facility Director of Nursing on the afternoon of February 2, 2017, who revealed that “after looking into the incident, she was able to verify that on January 9, 2017, the cut to the right hand had been brought to the attention of the nurse by a family member. The nurse assessed the area, notified the physician, obtained an order, and notified the family on January 9, 2017.”
The Director also confirmed that “there was no evidence that the hand had been assessed, treated, or that the cuts to the right hand had been monitored until January 9, 2017, when the family had brought it to the attention of the facility.” The state investigator reviewed the change in the resident’s condition and status policy revised in November 2015. The policy stated that “the facility would probably notify the physician and the representative of changes in the resident’s medical/mental condition. This [need for notification] included if the resident was involved in an accident or incident that resulted in injury.”
In a separate summary statement of deficiencies dated December 7, 2016, the state investigator identified an additional failure at the facility. This [deficiency] included a failure to “notify the physician when a resident was unable to be located in the facility and or the community.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff affected one resident reviewed for elopement.”
The state investigator reviewed the resident’s Progress Notes dated November 26, 2016, that revealed a Registered Nurse documented that “the resident had been seen with other residents at approximately 3:30 PM. The Registered Nurse had his IV medication prepared, but the resident was not in his room or the facility. The facility’s searched and the Director Nursing was notified at 4:30 PM. The note indicated they would continue to search for the resident. There was no other documentation in the medical record regarding when the resident returned to the facility and who was notified.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated December 7, 2016, a state surveying agency opened a formal complaint against the nursing home to identify failures. The surveying team noted the facility’s failure “to provide adequate supervision on the night shift to prevent falls. This [deficiency] resulted in actual harm when [a resident] went to the bathroom by herself on the night shift, fell and sustained the leg fracture and multiple rib fractures.”
The state investigator also documented that the facility had “failed to thoroughly investigate the circumstances after the falls and implement plan interventions.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff “affected one resident.” Additional deficiencies included a failure to “implement their policy when a resident left the facility and returned a few hours later.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated December 7, 2016, a state investigator opened the complaint against the facility to identify failures. The investigator documented the facility’s failure “to be adequately staffed to supervise residents on the night shift. Actual harm occurred when the 300 Hall on the night shift was not adequately staff and [a resident] who resided in that Hall, fell and sustained the leg fracture and multiple rib fractures.”
If your loved one is the victim of abuse or neglect while residing at any nursing facility, including Eastland Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, hiring an attorney could help. With legal representation, your family can be assured of receiving adequate financial compensation to recover your monetary damages. A lawyer can file your claim in the appropriate Ohio county courthouse, build a case, and negotiate a settlement, or present evidence in front of a judge and jury.
No upfront payments are necessary personal injury law firms accept every wrongful death lawsuit and nursing home neglect claim for compensation through contingency fee agreements. This arrangement postpones your payment for legal services until your case is resolved and you have obtained financial compensation through an out of court settlement or a jury trial award.
Sources:
Attorney Nancy Iler
Licensed in Ohio
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home