Two Louisville nursing homes will permanently shut down after state surveys found “substantial noncompliance with Medicare rules and regulations,” including rodents, resident neglect and abuse.
Hillcreek Rehab and Care on Breckenridge Lane and St. Matthews Care and Rehab Center on Browns Lane — both owned and operated by Lexington-based Exceptional Living Centers — were in a fight with the federal government to remain open despite the disturbing findings in the facilities, U.S. Attorney Michael Bennett announced in a news release Tuesday.
“Nursing homes must meet all federal program requirements and provide their residents, which include some of our most vulnerable citizens, with the quality care and services they deserve,” Bennett said in a news release. “When facilities fail to meet these requirements, CMS is authorized to hold the facilities accountable.”
The findings, made by the Kentucky Division of Healthcare over the course of several visits from September 2022 to May 2023, included:
Hillcreek Rehab and Care:
- Hillcreek repeatedly used blood glucometers on multiple patients without disinfecting the glucometers.
- Hillcreek left a resident in an unheated room, on the floor with skin tears, covered in urine and feces, who ultimately died of hypothermia.
- Hillcreek was infested with rodents, with rats and their droppings in plain view in various parts of the facility including resident rooms, and a resident was bitten by a rodent.
- Hillcreek left residents in soiled clothing and linens without appropriate checks from staff.
- Hillcreek left garbage cans in resident rooms and elsewhere overflowing with soiled adult briefs.
- Hillcreek failed to implement care plans for multiple residents, each of whom later suffered serious harm.
- A March 2023 survey found that Hillcreek improperly kept medications past expiration and improperly left medications unlocked.
- Hillcreek hired personnel despite disqualifying criminal convictions.
- Even though Hillcreek corrected some deficiencies cited by Kentucky, Hillcreek failed to be in substantial compliance even after a fourth revisit. Many Hillcreek resident rooms still had malfunctioning and nonfunctioning heating and cooling units, including one left pulled out of an exterior wall, allowing rodents to enter.
St. Matthews Care and Rehab Center:
- St. Matthews failed to protect residents from abuse.
- St. Matthews used blood glucometers on multiple patients without disinfecting them properly between uses.
- St. Matthews’ personnel files failed to show that complete and proper background checks had been performed on its employees, with some employees having disqualifying events that proper background checks should have revealed.
- St. Matthews failed to ensure that alleged violations involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, or mistreatment, including injuries of unknown source and misappropriation of resident property, were reported immediately.
- St. Matthews failed to develop and implement care plan interventions for residents with physician’s orders for oxygen.
Lisa Circeo, a Lexington-based attorney who specializes in nursing home abuse and neglect cases, said she has active cases against Hillcreek.
Abuse and neglect are all too common in nursing homes, according to Lisa Circeo, a Lexington-based attorney who specializes in nursing home abuse neglect cases, said she has active cases against Hillcreek.
“Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with a vulnerable population — like the elderly, who are infirm and in need of long-term care — there is a greater potential for poor outcomes in abuse and neglect,” Circeo said.
Hillcreek Rehab and Care and Exceptional Living Centers will pay $636,752.75 and St. Matthews Care and Rehab Center and Exceptional Living Centers will pay $389,656.25 in penalties to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in an agreement with the federal government that also results in their permanent closure.
“CMS takes seriously our role in promoting the health and safety of nursing home residents,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release Tuesday. “As was shown during onsite inspections, the residents of these two nursing homes did not receive the care they were entitled to.
We appreciate the efforts of the State of Kentucky to assess the quality of care through the survey process and support the relocation of residents to safer settings.”
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