Brookdale Senior Living, which is the country’s largest chain of senior living communities, is being sued by California prosecutors on the grounds of manipulating the Medicare nursing home ratings system. Becker’s Hospital Review recently published an article highlighting some details of the case. This federal ratings system assigns stars from…
A lack of federal funding for elderly healthcare could cause a nursing home abuse epidemic in San Clemente and across the country, a recent article in The New York Times suggests. While a vote on the Senate health care bill has been delayed, even an amended version of the bill…
Are nursing homes in California abiding by federal regulations for reporting allegations of elder abuse or neglect? According to a recent report released by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), not all facilities are reporting incidents of nursing home abuse. Reporting…
Nursing homes in California should take note of the negative publicity surrounding elder abuse and assisted-living facilities in our state. A recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel described serious nursing home abuse allegations that point to fraudulent Medicare claims and poor patient treatment. In Watsonville, located in Santa Cruz County, the…
History of the Star Rating System A recent New York Times article discussed the danger of trusting the Medicare star rating system, providing as an example a five-star nursing home facility in California with a history of elder neglect violations. Last week, we discussed the star rating system and the Rosewood nursing…
Profiting from Bad Hospice Ethics Last week, we discussed a recent phenomenon in the hospice care industry that’s quickly becoming an elder abuse concern. Specifically, hospice—a form of care designed to allow “patients to die at home or in other familiar surroundings,” according to an article in the Washington Post—has…
Have you been urged to place your elderly parent in hospice care despite the fact that he or she is not terminally ill? Hospice care is intended for patients who are terminally ill and for whom there is no cure. So why are healthy older adults ending up in hospice?…
A Northern Kentucky nursing home just reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office to pay a substantial settlement for false Medicare and Medicaid claims filed over the past decade. While this case concerns a nursing facility in Kentucky, it may have a significant impact on nationwide lawsuits under the…
The New York Times is out with an article about lack of oversight given to the more than 400 long-term acute care hospitals that operate in the United States. These hospitals, most of which operate as for-profit organizations, are supposed to provide care for individuals that are too sick for…
As America’s elderly population continues to explode (it will double by 2030), an important question that has received little attention in the national healthcare debate is how the U.S. will be able to deal with 78 million aging baby boomers. Those of us who practice elder abuse and neglect law…