The Ensign Group Safety Violations & Ratings

Umbrella companies often manage nursing homes across the nation. These entities are responsible for managing the individual facilities, enforcing professional standards, and ensuring resident rights are upheld at each nursing home. Ensign Group Inc. is one of these healthcare organizations.

The Ensign Group oversees roughly 300 facilities across fourteen states. It is one of the largest nursing home management companies in the country. Its skilled nursing facilities provide numerous services, including post-acute care, rehabilitation, therapy, and daily living assistance. 

With over 40,000 employees serving patients at Ensign Group Inc., the company’s impact on senior living standards is enormous. The headquarters for Ensign Group, which has existed since 1999, is located in San Juan Capistrano, CA.

This entity provides service for thousands of clients across its hundreds of locations. It is a significant player in the nursing home industry and has impacted many lives. Unfortunately, the impact of its services is not always positive. 

Many facilities have failed to provide high-quality post-acute care, independent living assistance, and long-term services for all residents, resulting in a poor management record for Ensign Group Inc.

Imperfect Skilled Nursing Services at Ensign Group Facilities

The Ensign Group has an imperfect record of enforcing professional standards at every nursing home it oversees. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created a five-star rating system for nursing homes, which creates an aggregate score for each facility based on individual scores for health inspections, quality measures, and staffing. 

Numerous facilities in the Ensign Group network have one or two-star overall scores from the CMS, indicating a poor history of quality care.

If you or a loved one have been harmed because of the care services at an Ensign Group facility, you have the right to file a claim for nursing home abuse or neglect. The Nursing Home Law Center team is ready to guide you through the claims process and protect your rights to give you the best chance of recovering compensation for damages.

Citations and Lawsuits Against The Ensign Group

Residents have the right to a comfortable life in a nursing home and access to the necessary care. Since Ensign Group oversees many skilled nursing facilities, it is responsible for these facilities’ failure to uphold those standards. 

Since 2022, roughly 68 nursing home violations have been cited against these institutions, resulting in fines. Since 2000, there have been 313 records of violations related to skilled nursing home services [1]. 

Because of these citations, facilities under Ensign Group Inc. have had to pay fines ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands. In many cases, victims of abuse or neglect and their families have filed lawsuits against Ensign Group for legal damages. Here are a few lawsuits that have involved Ensign Group Inc.

Pressure Ulcer in California

Pressure ulcers are common signs of nursing home neglect and abuse because they often occur when patients are left in bed for too long. The resident in this lawsuit developed a baseball-sized ulcer that became infected due to a lack of care from the staff at the facility that Ensign Group Inc. manages. The family of this resident was forced to transfer them to another nursing home for better treatment.

Permanent Disability From a Dislocated Hip

Another case in California involved a patient who developed pressure ulcers and a dislocated hip while staying in a nursing home affiliated with Ensign Services. The patient did not receive adequate pain management or attention, resulting in pressure ulcers on their heels and a dislocated hip. 

When surgery was done to correct the dislocation, the procedure was unsuccessful, and the victim was permanently disabled.

Class-Action Lawsuit for Insufficient Staffing

Nursing homes often operate with minimal staff to save money. In California, facilities must provide 3.5 hours of direct care per patient per day, of which 2.4 hours must involve a certified nursing assistant. The Ensign Group was named in a class-action lawsuit for failing to maintain these requirements at several facilities, resulting in lower-quality services for residents.

Violation of the False Claims Act

The False Claims Act enforces accurate billing and financial aspects of nursing home operations. Nursing homes often get reimbursed through Medicare or Medicaid to provide these services, and these institutions can easily fudge the numbers to receive more funding than they need. 

A whistleblower lawsuit against Ensign Group Inc. resulted in the company paying $48 million for Medicare fraud. This was due to facilities falsely reporting greater care burdens than were necessary to receive additional funding.

Inspections and Deficiencies at Ensign Group Independent Living Facilities

Nursing home inspections are supposed to be conducted regularly, with some states enforcing more frequent checkups than others. These inspections, which may result from complaints or part of the regular schedule, often reveal deficiencies at institutions managed by the Ensign Group. Here are some of the most recent deficiencies found in these nursing homes.

Hays Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – San Marcos, TX

This facility in San Marcos, TX, has been cited numerous times for deficiencies in recent years. First, the staff has failed to protect residents from instances of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. The facility has also failed to implement policies to correct this issue and prevent further abuse incidents.

Lakeside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – San Antonio, TX

Abuse has been a significant problem at this San Antonio skilled nursing home. The primary issue is that abuse is occurring repeatedly, which includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. The facility has also failed to respond appropriately to allegations and complaints of abuse. Finally, the staff and administrators have not taken action to implement policies that protect residents.

Pleasant Manor Healthcare Rehabilitation – Waxahachie, TX

This independent living facility has also failed to protect residents from abuse. Physical punishment, neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse have dramatically harmed multiple residents at this institution. On top of the abuse, Pleasant Manor has failed to provide appropriate pain management care for patients who require it.

Patriot Heights Health Care Center – San Antonio, TX

Skilled nursing homes can fail to provide adequate care services in many ways. The staff have been unable to provide appropriate treatment and care for all residents at this San Antonio institution based on their personalized plans and preferences. Additionally, the staff has not always informed residents, their doctors, or their family members about situations that affect the residents, such as injuries, health declines, or room changes.

Willowbend Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – Mesquite, TX

In the past year, Willowbend Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has struggled with the same deficiencies as Patriot Heights. Families, doctors, and their affiliated residents are not promptly informed of changes to the patient’s situation. 

The staff also fails to provide the care services outlined in each resident’s treatment plan. As a result, some elderly individuals suffer due to a lack of quality oversight from Ensign services.

Hunters Pond Rehabilitation and Healthcare – San Antonio, TX

Hunters Pond has been hit with multiple deficiencies in recent years. Patients who have mental disorders or traumatic pasts deserve high-quality care, but the caregivers at Hunters Pond have failed to implement appropriate care services for those with mental disorders. This facility has also failed to ensure residents are free from significant medication errors [2].

How Nursing Home Lawyers Can Help

Ensign Group Inc. has committed to overseeing hundreds of nursing homes across multiple states, and this company is responsible for upholding professional standards across each facility. Unfortunately, its past of numerous lawsuits and failed inspection reports demonstrates the need to hold this entity accountable for causing harm to senior living and post-acute patients. 

An attorney from the Nursing Home Law Center should be your first call if you or a loved one have been harmed in a nursing home within the Ensign services network.

Protecting Your Loved One From Abuse or Neglect

The first line of defense against nursing home abuse or neglect is the family of each resident. Family members are often the first to notice the signs of abuse or neglect and report it. Contacting a lawyer if you suspect the nursing home of abuse is the best way to ensure a thorough investigation is conducted. 

First, you must know what signs to look for that could indicate an abusive situation. Unexplained injuries, such as bruises or broken bones, could be signs of physical punishment. If your loved one is being physically restrained, this could violate their rights. 

Fearfulness around specific staff members, missing possessions, lack of hygiene, pressure sores, and lack of enjoyment of hobbies can all be signs that your loved one is being abused or neglected as well.

The Importance of Acting Quickly

Whether you are being abused in a nursing home or you suspect your loved one is receiving inadequate care, you must act fast to contact a nursing home attorney. The longer you wait, the harder it may be to collect evidence during the investigation to support a legal claim. Additionally, waiting could subject the victim to further abuse or neglect. 

Contact the Nursing Home Law Center to discuss your options for holding the facility accountable as soon as you suspect abuse. You could also run into your state’s statute of limitations if you fail to act quickly.

Free Consultation and No Upfront Fees

The Nursing Home Law Center is your best resource for holding nursing homes accountable after abuse or neglect. We believe in supporting victims during this difficult time, making it easy to consider your legal options. First, we offer a free consultation with an experienced attorney. During this review, you can ask questions about your case to learn about the legal process and whether you have a case. 

Our team works on a contingency fee basis. Instead of forcing you to pay for our services upfront, we only get paid if we win your civil case. That payment is only deducted from the settlement amount. You can rely on expert legal services without worrying about upfront costs, especially when dealing with legal damages like medical expenses, therapy costs, or emotional distress.

Contact the Nursing Home Law Center Today!

Ensign Group Inc. is supposed to protect the interests of senior residents in their nursing homes. They have fallen short in the past and may do so again when it involves you or a loved one. Rather than letting this abuse or neglect go unpunished, you can take action to hold Ensign Group Inc. accountable and pursue compensation for the legal damages suffered.

Call our team today at 800-926-7565 or complete the online form for your free consultation.

Resources: [1] Violation Tracker, [2] ProPublica