Articles Posted in San Diego Nursing Home

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Prime Healthcare Services is a Southern California company well known for turning around troubled hospitals. It also happens to be the subject of a federal investigation for possible overbilling in relation to an outbreak of septicemia. Last week’s release of an investigation by the San Diego Union Tribune and California Watch brought more bad news to the hospital chain.

According to the investigation, eight of the top 10 hospitals for malnutrition rates are owned by Prime Healthcare Services. Why such high rates of malnutrition at these hospitals? It depends who you ask. Prime will tell you it’s because of the patient population they typically serve; very sick patients who generally do not have any health insurance or primary health coverage.

“We agree we’re going to be higher than others because we have a focus on malnutrition and because of our patient mix,” said Mike Sarrao, attorney for Prime. “Because of our business model without managed care contracts, we see more emergency room cases.”

Others suggest the high rates give the hospital a financial benefit. A diagnosis of malnutrition brings with it higher reimbursement rates from Medicare. Remarkably, in 2009, Prime reported that 25 percent of its Medicare patients had some level of malnutrition, while the state average was 7.5 percent.

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The nursing home roommate from hell. A former San Diego nursing home resident was sentenced to 19 years in jail yesterday for setting a series of fires at two local nursing homes while she was a resident. According to an investigation, Mary Wilson tried to kill her nursing home roommate by setting her bed on fire while she slept. In another incident, Wilson threatened a resident with a knife.

The first incident occurred in January of 2009, when Wilson was a resident of the San Diego skilled nursing facility El Dorado Care Center in El Cajon. She was placed in a room with two roommates, both of whom were on oxygen and confined to their beds. In the middle of the night, Wilson got out of her bed and set the mattress on fire of one of her roommates. The fire alarm was triggered, and caregivers were able to extinguish the flame before any injuries occurred.

In May, Wilson was transferred to the assisted living center Golden Paradise Senior Living in National City. Shortly after her arrival, she set fire to trash cans and in the library. Luckily, there were no injuries.

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A certified nursing assistant working in a San Diego nursing home is being held on charges of rape and elder abuse after being caught having sex with a nursing home resident. According to reports, an employee of the El Dorado Care Center in El Cajon walked into the room of an elderly patient and saw Felix Panem sexually assaulting the patient. Panem is being held on $450,000 bail, and faces a possible 10 year sentence if convicted.

Sexual assault in the nursing home is not common, but it is certainly not rare. Because of age and infirmity, including memory problems such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, nursing home residents can be fairly easy targets for the criminally inclined. The Walton Law Firm has has cases involving sexual assault, physical abuse, and burglary committed by employee caregivers. Sometimes it’s just a rouge employee, but there are times when the facilities fail to perform adequate background checks that would have revealed the criminal propensity of a caregiver.

Investigators told the Union Tribune that they believe that the elderly resident is Panem’s only victim, but believe that she may have been raped by him on other occasions. The El Dorado Care Center is a skilled-nursing facility on Washington Street in El Cajon, California.

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The Fallbrook Hospital District Skilled Nursing Facility was fined $90,000 by the California Department of Health in a case involving the fall and subsequent death of a resident. The citation was the most severe of its kind arising from inadequate care leading to the death of the resident. Although the resident was known to have a high risk for falling, the Fallbrook nursing home failed to take adequate measures to prevent the fall. The resident fell, broke his leg, and died four days later as a result of complications from the surgery to repair his leg.

The Walton Law Firm successfully prosecutes cases involving injuries caused by falls in the custodial care setting. If you have questions about falls, please submit your confidential question online, or call Walton Law Firm for a free consultation. We can be reached toll free at (866) 607-1325 or locally at (760) 607-1325

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At the end of last week, a Medicare rate adjustment that cuts $16 billion in nursing home funding went into effect. That cut, combined with state cuts, is creating conditions that are likely to put nursing homes in a state of crisis. In fact, the president of the American Health Care Association is predicting the nursing facilities will close their doors.

Already numerous nursing homes have closed their doors because of money problems, and many others have reduced staffing, creating conditions for substandard care. The crisis could not come a worse time, as baby boomers steamroll toward retirement and the need for skilled nursing care. Just last year U.S. nursing homes housed 1.85 million people, about 100,000 more than the previous year.

In Griswold, Conn., the community’s only nursing home shut down earlier this year because of rising costs and an inability to pay for $4.9 million in needed renovations for the 90-bed facility.”A 92-year-old woman was screaming and crying as she was loaded into the ambulance, saying ‘This is my home,'” Griswold First Selectman Philip Anthony said. His 88-year-old mother was a resident of the same home at the time.

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On a fairly regular basis I get telephone calls asking for a recommendation to a “good” nursing home or assisted living facility. I have to refrain from answering, because though I have brought legal actions against many nursing homes for abuse and neglect, I also know there are plenty of homes out there that can provide good care. I just don’t know who they are.

Today I met with someone who does. Lise Marquis, with A Place For Mom (www.aplaceformom.com), explained to me all the considerations in finding the right placement for an elderly loved one. A Place for Mom provides consultations for senior housing and care options, and has literally hundreds of options including skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, respite care, and board and care homes. And get this, the service is free.

In addition to providing options for housing, Lise can also provide resources for financing, therapy services, and legal services if those aspects of care are needed.

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As California starts to overhaul the regulation of its 350,000 registered nurses, one of the nursing board’s most promoted and trouble programs is under the microscope. The nursing drug diversion program, which seeks to help nurses maintain their licenses while they kick addiction to drugs, has apparently not been the success the nursing board would like the public to believe.

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica discovered several examples of nurses in the drug diversion program who practiced nursing while intoxicated, stole drugs from bedridden patients, and committed fraud to prevent from being caught.

Most troubling is that since the program was started in 1985, more than half the nurses who entered the program were unable to finish it and numerous nurses who failed the program were deemed to be “public safety threats.” Yet despite the identification of incorrigible nurses, several continued to work after the findings were made.

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State investigators issued a $100,000 fine to nursing home Aviara Healthcare Center in Encinitas after finding that a resident’s death was caused by neglect. The resident died of blunt force trauma after a fall.

According to reports, the resident was at the nursing home to rehabilitate a broken hip, and suffered a fall on May 9 when trying to get out of bed. The following morning at 3 a.m., the resident got out of bed and stumbled into the hallway. A nurse saw him grab onto a large Hoyer lift (a large mechanical lift), which toppled over on top of the resident. The lift struck him in the head, causing a deep cut and a severe brain injury. He died three days later.

Investigators concluded that Aviara Healthcare was negligent for storing the large mechanical lift in the hallway outside the resident’s rooms, and received statements from several employees who stated that the lift was supposed to be stored elsewhere. As a result, a Class AA citation was issued.

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A report published by the National Nursing Home Survey finds that between 1999 and 2004 the number of nursing home beds and nursing home residents declined in the United States. The number of nursing home beds dropped more than 10%, or 200,000 beds, and there are approximately 100,000 fewer nursing home residents.

The survey also found that more nursing facilities are certified for both Medicare and Medicaid, and that the vast majority of caregivers were not licensed nurses, but Certified Nursing Assistants. Also, it was found that a small fraction of nursing home residents are independent, and need no help with their activities of daily living, which a slight majority, 51.1%, needed assistance with all daily activities.

To read the entire survey, click here. (.pdf)

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This list contains the issuance of citations to Southern California nursing facilities by the California Department of Public Health over the last six months. All the citations listed are issued for reasons related to patient care. For verification of the citation, please contact the local department office or Walton Law Firm LLP.

<font size='2'Facility Date Citation
Los Angeles County
Antelope Valley Healthcare 3/04/09 Class B
Arbor View Rehabilitation 3/11/09 Class B
Burbank Healthcare and Rehab 3/04/09 Class B
Casa Bonita Convalescent 3/31/09 Class AA
Chandler Convalescent 2/04/09 Class B
Country Villa Broadway 3/02/09 Class B
Emeritas at San Dimas 3/30/09 Class A
Lutheran Health Facility 3/04/09 Class B
Mid-Wilshire Health Care Center 2/02/09 Class B
Royal Oaks Convalescentr 3/13/09 Class B
Tarzana Health and Rehab 4/07/09 Class B
Windsor Terrace Healthcare 2/09/09 Class B
Orange County
Coastal Communities Hospital 03/17/09 Class B
Country Villa Laguna Hills 03/03/09 Class B
Fountain Care Center of Orange 4/07/09 Class B
Sunbridge Care and Rehabilitation 1/21/09 Class A
Riverside County
Hemet Valley Healthcare Center 2/10/09 Class A
Hemet Valley Medical Center 12/04/08 Class A
Plymouth Tower 1/13/09 Class B
San Diego County
Care With Dignity Convalescent 2/11/09 Class B
Escondido Care Center 02/25/09 Class AA
Fallbrook Hosp. Dist. Skilled Nursing 3/02/09 Class B
La Paloma Healthcare Center 3/04/09 Class B
Remington Club Heatlh Center 3/18/09 Class B
Vista Knoll Specialized Care 3/04/09 Class B
Ventura County
Brighton Gardens of Camarillo 3/09/09 Class B, WMO
Camarillo Healthcare Center 3/09/09 Class B
Country Villa Oxnard 10/30/08 Class B
Fillmore Convalescent 4/03/09. Class B
Twin Pines Healthcare 3/09/09. Class B
Santa Paula Healthcare 3/17/09 Class B, A, A, A

Class AA: The most serious violation, AA citations are issued when a resident death has occurred in such a way that it has been directly and officially attributed to the responsibility of the facility, and carry fines of $25,000 to $100,000.

Class A: Class A citations are issued when violations present imminent danger to patients or the substantial probability of death or serious harm, and carry fines from $2,000 to $20,000.

Class B: Class B citations carry fines from $100 to $1000 and are issued for violations which have a direct or immediate relationship to health, safety, or security, but do not qualify as A or AA citations.

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