Information & Ratings on Redwood of Carmel Hills (Violations)

The majority of nursing homes in existence provide the skilled nursing care for residents that they hold themselves out as being able to provide. However, there are some nursing homes that, for whatever reason, consistently fail to provide competent and proper care for their residents. Whether it is that a profit motive is causing them to refrain from investing what they need to in care or just simply not the institutional know-how, this can harm your loved one residing there. If your family member has suffered any injury at a nursing home because of something that the facility did or did not do, you should immediately contact a lawyer. 

Redwood of Carmel Hills is a large-sized facility with 194 certified beds. It participates in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The home provides long-stay services to residents of Independence, MO and the Greater Kansas City area. It has for-profit ownership and is located at:

810 E Walnut St 
Independence, MO 64050
(816) 461-9600
URL: N/A

The federal government maintains an active presence when it comes to nursing home enforcement. While one would think of medical regulation as a state issue, the federal government becomes involved due to its role as the overseer of the Medicare program. Medicare provides nursing homes with much of their revenue stream, and therefore they must comply with federal regulations when it comes to nursing home care. Potential penalties includes both fines as well as denial of Medicare payments. Medicare also assigns quality ratings to each nursing home.

This facility belongs to a chain of nursing homes that has experienced its share of troubles over the years. This particular nursing home has a history of inspections that have revealed many different deficiencies in care. In addition, there have been a large number of complaints that have led to citations assessed after investigations were conducted. 

The most recent inspection report, issued in March 2018, illustrated that the quality of care at this facility is on the decline. The home received 19 separate health citations, which is up from nine in its previous inspection. The deficiencies were spread out among different areas, but the most prevalent issue encountered by this home was in the area of quality of life and care deficiencies. 

The most recent complaint inspection was carried out in July 2017. The inspection report noted a major error that occurred in the area of medication. The facility failed to follow physician's orders with regard to the administration of two intravenous antibiotics and other medications that a physician prescribed for a resident. For various reasons, staff did not administer several of these medications. For example, the pharmacy had not delivered one medication. The IV line was already in the resident and remained so for several days. Eventually, the resident pulled out their IV line and refused to allow the reinsertion of the line. 

While this nursing home did not receive a one star rating for staffing, the numbers that it reported to Medicare indicate that the nursing home may be short of staff. The average nursing home has 93 minutes of nurse time per resident each day. Redwood of Carmel Hills has only 55 minutes of licensed nurse time per resident each day. This facility is particularly short in the area of RN with only 18 minutes of RN time per resident each day. When a nursing home does not have sufficient staff, it is more likely to make mistakes and overlook things in care. 

In fact, these staffing issues have been borne out in the latest inspection report. The facility was cited for its failure to ensure that an adequate number of staff have been trained in basic life support. It is the expectation when a resident is found without a pulse, that the staff will administer CPR to the resident, provided that they do not have a DNR order. There needs to be one staff member on hand at all times who is trained in CPR. 

In addition, there have been 18 complaints over the past three years that have resulted in a health citation issued to this facility. The state and local governments have the ability to investigate complaints as they are filed against the nursing home. Sometimes, this will result in a fine or some other penalty or citation. 

Finally, this nursing home had a payment denial from Medicare in January 2016. Medicare will issue a payment denial under several circumstances. One instance that requires denial of payments for new admissions is when a nursing home is assessed a health citation and does not return to compliance within three months.

Contact the attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center today for a free case assessment. We can be reached by telephone at (800) 726-9565 or you can start a conversation with us online. When we talk to you, we can discuss the facts of your case and inform you whether we believe you have an actionable legal claim. This will not cost you anything. If fact, we are paid nothing at all unless we are able to help you and your family receive a financial recovery in some way.

Sources:

• Inspection Report - 07/13/2017
• Inspection Report - 03/05/2018