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Nursing Home in Oklahoma Lost its Certification Due to Violations

By Beth Janicek

Care Living Center in Edmond, Oklahoma is having its certification pulled because of deficiencies found by state health inspectors, resulting in more than two dozen Medicare and Medicaid residents being forced to move. Officials said that the deficiencies centered on medical and nursing neglect.

Mary Fleming, the state health department's director of survey, said examples of neglect included some residents who were not being turned or cleaned and in some instances were not fed. Inspectors found one resident with 17 pressure ulcers and who was not receiving appropriate treatment ordered by a physician. Fleming also said that there was no one to answer residents' call lights and that staff members were not trained appropriately.

'They were not following doctor's orders to care for medical problems, like not monitoring blood glucose for diabetics, not monitoring blood pressure for residents with hypertension or strokes, and not putting people in isolation that had infectious diseases.'

In addition, two residents had wandered away from the facility and were found several blocks away.

Home administrator, Vincent Dike, said the new owners, Quality Health Care LLC, only took over the nursing home in November and needed more time to correct the problems.

Dike said, 'This facility had problems in the past before the new management came in, but we worked aggressively and corrected most of the deficiencies. We were hoping within the next visit that we would be in good standing. But to our surprise, they said ‘We have given you three chances, and that's all the state allows you to have.''

The federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, allows a maximum of three revisits to a facility, and then they terminate. The facility can work out the deficiencies and apply for recertification, but it will be a long process.

The facility is losing Medicaid patients and Medicare patients. The termination does not affect 18 of the facility's private pay residents, but Dike said that the owners may find it difficult to keep the doors open.

I would like to see the Texas regulatory agency, TDADS, be this aggressive with facilities. It is very difficult on the residents to move facilities, but it is in the best interest of the residents for these regulatory agencies to be vigilant in protecting the vulnerable patients.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Beth Janicek

Full post as published by San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyer on May 28, 2009 (boomark / email).