531 deficiencies found in 80 Kentucky nursing homes in first quarter of 2012; worst one had 29; five had none

State inspectors found 531 deficiencies in 80 Kentucky nursing homes in the first quarter of this year, with one facility accounting for 29 of them alone: Life Care Center of Morehead. In five nursing homes, no deficiencies were found.

The information was released by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a nonprofit organization that advocates for nursing home residents and obtains the data regularly through open-records requests to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide. The information is posted as part of Medicare's nursing-home comparison data.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average number of deficiencies for a nursing home inspected in the U.S. is eight and the average in Kentucky is seven. Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

Nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the first quarter were:
• Life Care Center of Morehead (29 deficiencies)
• Kindred Transitional Care & Rehab-Fountain Circle in Winchester (24)
• Signature Health of Pikeville (19)
• Hearthstone Place in Elkton (15)
• Martin County Health Care Facility in Inez (14)
• Wesley Manor Nursing Center in Louisville (13)
• Pembroke Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Pembroke (13)
• Highlands Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Louisville (11)
• Mountain Manor of Paintsville (11)
• Cumberland Valley Manor in Burkesville (10)
• Klondike Care and Rehabilitation Center in Louisville (10)

The five nursing homes with no deficiencies were:
• Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester
• Nazareth Home in Louisville
• Essex Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Louisville
• Barren County Health Care Center in Glasgow
• Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center in Lexington (initial inspection; under new ownership)

For more information about Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, click here.

Effort to boost oral health in nursing homes gets tangled up with industry's attempt to insulate itself from lawsuits; both bills die

A bill to get nursing-home residents better dental services "appears to be dead after the Senate added language from another bill designed to shield the nursing-home industry from litigation," Deborah Yetter reports for The Courier-Journal.

House Bill 510 would have created a pilot project for the state's two dental schools to create "a program to provide better oral-health services to nursing home residents," Yetter writes. "But on Wednesday, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee added language from another bill that had stalled in the House that would require people who want to file malpractice lawsuits against nursing homes to first submit the complaint to a 'medical review panel'." (Read more) 

Bill passed that would require fingerprint background checks at nursing homes

The state House has approved a bill requiring long-term care facilities to run background checks using fingerprinting technology, a move that would be mostly funded by a $3 million federal grant. The state will kick in $1 million.

The House approved the measure 62-36, though many lawmakers are worried about who is going to pay for the effort when the grant runs out in three years. Background checks cost between $60 and $80.

Now, long-term care facilities must "do a name-based background check," reports Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "However, those background checks only look at state records. A fingerprint check can search nationally for criminal records."

Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, said he was unsure if House Bill 250 will pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Read more)

Jury tells nursing home: Pay $8 million to estate of man whose legs employees broke; homes seek legislative insulation from suits

A Louisville nursing home was ordered to pay $8 million in damages last week to the estate of a retired surgeon whose legs were broken while he was being transferred from a chair to his bed at Treyton Oak Towers. He died less than two months later.

The incident happened to Dr. David Griffin in September 2008. Griffin, who had suffered a stroke, was put back in bed "like it didn't happen," attorney Matt Minner said. Employees reportedly were told to change medical records and cover up the act. Because of his condition from the stroke, Griffin couldn't tell anyone "about the agony he was in," Minner told The Courier-Journal.

Treyton Oak Towers plans to appeal the ruling. Its attorney, Scott Whonsetler, told newspaper that "Griffin had severe osteoporosis and doctors failed to inform nursing home employees of the diagnosis," Andrew Wolfson and Jason Riley report . "We categorically deny that there was any coverup whatsoever" after the incident, Whonsetler said.

The verdict, returned after about two hours of deliberation, includes $2 million for pain and suffering, $1 million for violating the state nursing home statute and $5 million in punitive damages. (Read more)

The verdict comes after the introduction of House Bill 361, which would establish medical review panels. Under the proposal, panel members would consider whether civil litigation against a nursing home is warranted before it is sent to court. The purpose of the panel would be to prevent frivolous lawsuits, but "could deny nursing home residents access to the courts of law," reads a press release by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a nonprofit organization that advocates for nursing home residents. The bill was introduced Feb. 1 but has not been posted for consideration by the House Health and Welfare Committee.

455 deficiencies found in 72 Kentucky nursing homes in fourth quarter of 2011

State inspectors found 455 deficiencies in 72 Kentucky nursing homes in the fourth quarter of 2011, with one facility accounting for 25 of them alone: Kindred Transitional Care & Rehab-Fountain Circle in Winchester.

The information was released by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a nonprofit organization that advocates for nursing home residents and obtains the data regularly through open-records requests to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide. The information is posted as part of Medicare's nursing-home comparison data.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average number of deficiencies for a nursing home inspected in the U.S. is eight and the average in Kentucky is seven. Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

Nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the fourth quarter of 2011 were:

• Bridge Point Care and Rehabilitation Center, Florence (22)

• Pineville Community Hospital (17)

• North Hardin Health & Rehabilitation Center, Radcliff (15)

• Richmond Place Rehabilitation and Health Center, Lexington (13)

• Hart County Health Care Center, Horse Cave (13)

• Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pikeville (13)

• West Liberty Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (13)

• Redbanks, Henderson (12)

• Knox County Hospital, Barbourville (11)

• The Forum at Brookside, Louisville (11)

• Bradford Square Care and Rehabilitation Center, Frankfort (10)

• Florence Park Care Center (10)

• Boyd Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Ashland (10)

• Corbin Health & Rehabilitation Center (10)

For more information about Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, click here.

Bills would require more assessment before a patient can be admitted to a personal-care home

Legislation dubbed "Larry's Law" is aimed at preventing what happened to Larry Lee from happening again.

House Bill 307, filed by Democratic Rep. Terry Mills, right, "would require an individual to be examined and assessed by a medical professional before admission to a personal care home, and it would require further assessment of the degree of disability for an individual with an acquired brain injury who was being considered for placement," report Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Senate Bill 115, filed by Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon, left, would require that a potential resident be evaluated by a mental health professional before someone is admitted to a personal care home, a cost that would be picked up by the state. Higdon and Mills are both from Lebanon, where Larry Lee lived until he went to Falmouth Nursing Home in Pendleton County.

In August, Lee, right, disappeared from the home, one of 82 free-standing personal care homes in Kentucky. Lee, who had a brain injury from childhood, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and diabetes. He was found dead four week after his disappearance on the banks of the Licking River, which flows through Falmouth.

A pre-admission assessment "is the only thing that we found that could have saved Larry Lee," Higdon said. "His condition was too severe. He should have never been in a personal care home." (Read more)

Free seminar on guardianship to be offered Feb. 26 in Lexington

Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform will provide the opportunity to learn from experts about guardianship Feb. 26. More than 23,000 Kentuckians live in nursing homes.

Lexington attorneys Carolyn Kenton and Robert McClelland will speak, along with Virgiel Clayton, director of the Division of Guardianship in the Department of Aging and Independent Living.

The seminar, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Tates Creek Branch of the Lexington Public Library. For more information, click here.

Nursing homes want panel to review lawsuits against them

"A long-term care industry group wants a new law in Kentucky that would create medical review panels to evaluable potential lawsuits against nursing homes, personal care homes and some facilities for the intellectually and developmentally disabled," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The panel would be made up of three physicians and chaired by an attorney who would not be allowed to vote. The panel's findings would be admissible in court. The panel would "help eliminate frivolous lawsuits against the long-term care industry," said Ruby Jo Cummins Lubarsky, president of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities. "Kentucky's long-term care profession has seen a drastic increase in litigation from lawyers whose sole practice has been limited to targeting our nursing facilities. Their primary tactic is to exploit the integrity of our survey process with misleading advertisements designed to alarm the public about a supposed failure to provide quality care in our facilities."

The Kentucky Justice Association, formerly the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys, is against the proposal because it "makes nursing home corporations less accountable for the neglect and abuse of Kentucky's elderly citizens," said Maresa Fawns, the association's executive director. Bernie Vonderheide, founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, is also opposed, saying the formation of medical review panels is "blatantly unfair to residents of nursing homes."

The proposal has not yet been filed for the 2012 General Assembly. House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a lawyer, has said he "would never support any measure that would deny a person his or her day in court if injured," but added he understands "that small, rural nursing homes are in extreme jeopardy because of out-of-state predatory law firms. Given that, the only responsible thing is to gather information on the issue and keep an open mind." (Read more)

Nursing-home violations went up in third quarter, but a record 8 facilities had no deficiencies

In the third quarter of 2011, inspectors found 403 deficiencies in 56 Kentucky nursing homes, an average of 7.2, up from 5.9 in the second quarter. But no deficiencies were found in eight facilities, the first time that has happened in so many.

"I guess you could call that progress," Bernie Vonderheide of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform told The Courier-Journal's Deborah Yetter. The non-profit organization advocates for nursing home residents and obtains this data regularly through open-records requests to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide. The information is posted as part of Medicare's nursing-home comparison data.

Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

Nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the third quarter were: Christopher East Health Care Center, Louisville, 20; Glasgow Health & Rehabilitation Center, Glasgow (18); Springhurst Health and Rehab, Louisville (17); Woodland Terrace Health Care, Elizabethtown (16); Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pikeville (16); Windsor Care Center, Mount Sterling (14); Bluegrass Care & Rehabilitation Center, Lexington (14); The Good Samaritan Society, Jeffersontown (12); Green Valley Health & Rehabilitation Center, Carrolton (12); Carmel Manor, Fort Thomas (12); Breckinridge Memorial Nursing Facility, Hardinsburg (11); Glenview Health Care Facility, Glasgow (11), Professional Care Health & Rehabilitation Center, Hartford (11); Salyersville Health Care Center (10); Stanton Nursing Center, Stanton (10); Colonial Health and Rehabilitation Center, Bardstown (10); Owsley County Health Care Center, Booneville (10); and Edgemont Healthcare, Cynthiana (10).

Nursing homes with no deficiencies were: Lourdes Transitional Care (Paducah); Westport Place Health Campus (Louisville); Carter Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (Grayson); Regional Medical Center of Hopkins County (Madisonville); Belle Meade Home (Greenville); Robertson County Health Care Facility (Mount Olivet); Windsor Gardens (Bardstown); and the Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary (Nerinx).

For the first time, inspection results were also released for assisted-living facilities. Inspectors found 19 deficiencies at Charleston Assisted Living in Danville, by far the highest number among the 10 facilities inspected. Other inspection results at assisted living facilities were: The Harrod Assisted Living, Harrodsburg (12); Highland Ridge Assisted Living, Glasgow (7); Atria Highland Crossing, Fort Wright (6); Bluegrass Assisted Living, Elizabethtown (4); Bowling Green Retirement Village, Bowling Green (4); Trinity Station Retirement Community, Flatwoods (4); The Neighborhood of Somerset, Somerset (2); Twin Oaks Assisted Living, New Castle (2); and The Village of Lebanon, Lebanon (2). There are 100 assisted-living facilities in Kentucky. (Read more)

Nursing home ombudsman program at risk because of 'callous and apparenly clueless' move by feds, advocate writes

The Kentucky long-term care ombudsman program is at risk in Kentucky due to a change in federal policy. The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services is "quietly telling some state aging leaders that by Jan. 1 they will no longer be allowed to use civil monetary penalty funds to help pay for the nursing home ombudsman program in their states," Bernie Vonderheide, president and founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, writes an op-ed piece in The Courier-Journal.

The civil penalties are assessed for violations in nursing homes. In Kentucky, the fund contains about $15 million. But if the move by CMS goes through, Kentucky "stands to lose more than a half million dollars a year from the CMP fund that has gone into supporting full-time ombudsmen in all of the 15 area development districts in the state," Vonderheide writes. "We are concerned about the callous and apparently clueless action by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is obvious that the Washington bureaucrats who make decisions like this have never been in a nursing home and are oblivious to the needs of the people."

Nursing-home ombudsmen investigate alleged abuse and neglect in facilities, and visit residents. "In the average nursing home, surveys show that more than half the residents never have a visitor — family member or friend — except for one, and that's the ombudman," Vonderheide writes. "We can't lose our nursing home residents' best friends — those angels of mercy, the ombudsmen." (Read more)

Jury tells nursing home to pay $1 million to former resident

A Fayette County jury has decided that Lexington's Cambridge Place Nursing Home will have to pay more than $1 million in damages to a former resident who fell and was found in an equipment storage room with broken bones in her face.

In January 2009, Irene Hendrix, who has Alzheimer's disease, was reportedly walking up and down a hall using a Merry Walker, which is a walker that has a seat. At some point, Hendrix, right, fell and was found with bleeding in her brain, a 4-centimeter cut on her forehead and the broken bones, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports. Hendrix's daughter and guardian filed a lawsuit against the facility later that year, alleging negligence.

After two hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Hendrix $1 million for physical pain, suffering and mental anguish. It also awarded Hendrix more than $27,000 for her medical bills. "A jury spoke today regarding the level of care they expect for their loved ones in nursing homes in Fayette County," plaintiff's lawyer Scott Owens said.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General previously investigated Hendrix's case and a state adult-protection worker "determined that Hendrix was a victim of caretaker neglect and had been exposed to an extreme safety risk," Spears reports. "The protection worker told the attorney general's office that she thought Hendrix's injuries were the result of an accident." The attorney general's office closed the case in March 2009. (Read more)

Ex-boss of defunct Jenkins personal-care home accepts federal plea deal; he and relatives still face state charges

"The former administrator of a Letcher County personal-care home that was recently shut down by the state pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a charge that he took thousands of dollars from residents," Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

James F. "Chum" Tackett of Jenkins accepted a prison sentence of two years and two days in prison, and agreed to repay $113,547 that he admitted embezzeling from the federal benefits of residents at the Golden Years Nursing Home. He still faces state charges, including felony theft. His daughter has been charged with failure to make required disposition of property, in relation to the home, and his grandson, who succeeded him as administrator, has been charged with bribing a witness and other felonies. (Read more) 

Second death in five years raises questions about placement of mentally ill Kentuckians in personal-care homes

The second death in five years of a mentally ill person who has walked out of a personal care home has "prompted advocates for the brain injured and the mentally ill to question whether personal care homes, which do not provide skilled nursing care, are the appropriate place to house people who have serious, chronic and complex problems," Beth Musgrave and Valarie Honeycutt Spears report for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Larry Joe Lee, 32, who "had a brain injury, was schizophrenic, bipolar and diabetic," was found dead in after walking away from the Falmouth Nursing Home, the writers note. "In 2007, Larry Bruce Huff, 64, who had schizophrenia and a history of alcoholism, walked away from Golden Years Rest Home in Letcher County and later froze to death." The state closed Golden Years last week, and legislators say they will address the overall problem in the 2012 General Assembly.

"Personal care homes provide long-term care for people who do not need full-time nursing home care but need some assistance," the newspaper explains. "They receive a small state stipend and social security disability — $1,194 a month — to provide services to a complex population that includes the mentally ill, mentally disabled and even those who have recently been released from prison. There are 82 free-standing personal care homes in Kentucky serving more than 3,000 people." (Read more)

Death of personal-care home resident has lawmakers from his hometown talking about stricter staffing rules

The death of a missing personal-care home resident has a bipartisan pair of Kentucky lawmakers from his home town of talking about setting staffng standards for Kentucky's personal-care homes or even nursing homes, which have successfully lobbied against such regulation.

Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon and Democratic Rep. Terry Mills of Lebanon participated in the search that led to the discovery of Falmouth Nursing Home resident Larry Lee's body, Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Following the search, they agreed tougher legislation is needed for personal-care homes.

State regulations on staffing for such homes are vague, stating staff-to-resident ratios should be based on the number of patients and the supervision required to meet their needs, Spears reports.

Higdon plans to address staff-to-resident ratios, resident activities, aging facilities and other problems through legislation. He said he may also support legislation that would create procedures for communities to follow when vulnerable community members go missing.

Mills wants the General Assembly to investigate staff-to-resident ratios for all long-term care facilities, including nursing homes. He said he and Higdon have discussed a "call for a task force to study conditions at personal-care homes." (Read more)

Here's latest quarterly report of Ky. nursing homes' deficiencies

In the second quarter of 2011, inspectors found 291 deficiencies in 49 Kentucky nursing homes, nine of which had 10 or more. Rosewood Health Care Center in Bowling Green had 19 deficiencies, followed by Mountain View Health Care Center in Elkhorn City with 18 and Christian Health Center in Louisville with 16.

Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a non-profit organization that advocates for nursing home residents, obtains such data regularly through open-records requests to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide.

On average, inspectors find six deficiencies in Kentucky's nursing homes, according to Medicare's nursing-home comparison data. Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

The other nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the second quarter were: Wurtland Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (15); Christian Health Center, Corbin (14); Royal Manor, Nicholasville (12); Glasgow State Nursing Facility (12); Regis Woods Care and Rehabilitation Center, Louisville (12); and Owsley County Health Care Center, Booneville (12).

Former boss of troubled personal-care home is indicted

"Another former administrator of a troubled Letcher County personal care home has been indicted on charges of witness tampering and theft," Beth Musgrave reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

A county grand jury indicted Jonah Tackett, former administrator of Golden Years Rest Home, on two charges of bribing a witness, two of tampering with a witness, and three of theft by failure to make required disposition, all felonies punishable by one to five years in prison.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jack Conway, whose office is prosecuting the case, declined to tell the Herald-Leader whether the charges "relate to ongoing criminal and civil cases involving the Jenkins home that houses more than 34 people," Musgrave reports. A circuit judge barred the Tackett family and members of the home's board of directors from having contact with the facility.

The indictment was "the latest in a history of legal troubles at the facility and for the Tackett family," Musgrave reports. "Conway’s office has said that the office would like to keep Golden Years open but its primary concern is the safety of the residents at the facility." (Read more)

Justice Dept. accuses Erlanger nursing home of collecting on 'worthless services;' suit is first of its kind in Kentucky

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a civil complaint against Villaspring Health Care and Rehabilitation in Erlanger and its parent company, Carespring Health Care Management, claiming they "billed Medicare and Medicaid for services purportedly provided to its residents despite knowing that the services were so inadequate that they were essentially worthless," Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

The complaint was the first in Kentucky alleging that a nursing home violated the federal False Claims Act. "Today's filing represents an important milestone in the effort to ensure effective care for Medicare and Medicaid recipients in long-term care facilities," U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey said.

The list of allegations include failures to follow physicians' orders, treat wounds and pressure sores, update resident care plans, give enough to drink, give regular baths and monitor diabetics' blood-sugar levels, Spears reports. The complaint alleges there were numerous injuries and at least five deaths from 2004 to 2008 due to improper care.

Officials of the nursing home officials invited journalists to tour the facility and denied any wrongdoing. "We do not feel that the government's case has any merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously," Carespring spokeswoman Kim Majick said. "Villaspring has consistently provided high-quality care to the residents of Kenton County and looks forward to doing so in the future." (Read more)