A $66,632 fine against the Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center nursing home for Covid-19 related violations represents the largest federal penalty issued against a long-term care facility in New York State.
The Albion nursing home also was fined $20,000 by state Health Department inspectors for the same violations cited in a May 9 state inspection of the facility.
The nursing home is one of 20 under investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which is looking into how facilities have responded to the pandemic.
There have been 23 confirmed Covid-19 deaths among residents at the Villages of Orleans and one “presumed” coronavirus fatality, according to the Health Department.
With an overall one-star rating, the lowest ranking issued by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency cited the state Health Department’s inspection as the basis for its $66,623 fine. The violations included:
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• Failure to comply with establishing and maintaining an infection control program to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.
• Staff assigned to caring for residents with confirmed and presumed cases of Covid-19 not taking precautions before entering the rooms of residents who were not infected.
• Inadequate hand hygiene.
"Specifically, facility staff (certified nurse aides and licensed practical nurses) entered and exited the room of a resident diagnosed with [redacted]. The same staff then entered the rooms of residents without Covid-19, passed breakfast trays, assisted with the residents' meal and provided hands-on care without wearing PPE and completing proper hand hygiene," according to the inspection.
Several calls from The Buffalo News on Saturday to obtain comments from the facility’s administrator and director of nursing were not returned.
In the past 13 months, the federal government has issued numerous fines to nursing homes in New York for Covid-19 violations and for unrelated violations. They ranged from failing to carry out adequate infection control protocols to insufficient care of residents. But by far, the fine against the Villages of Orleans was the biggest for that time period.
The second and third biggest federal fines in the state were $47,954 against the Riverside in Manhattan and $13,507 at Silvercrest in Queens. They were the result of violations from state inspections that were not classified as Covid-19 focused.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stressed the need to be transparent about the COVID-19 death toll following the release of a report by the New York State Attorney General that showed fatalities in the state's nursing homes may have been undercounted by as much as 50%.
In contrast, many of the 52 fines issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ in the state as of January were for less than $1,000.
Richard Mollot, who heads a national advocacy group in New York City for long-term care residents, said the federal fine against the Albion facility is substantial, but he offered that assessment with a caveat.
“Unfortunately, both the states and federal governments fail to use the penalty mechanism sufficiently and that results in facilities with systemic understaffing, infection control lapses and other serious problems,” said Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition. “The level of the federal fine here is certainly meaningful, but the question comes is it too little too late.”
State Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the business model for long-term care, said fines, including those imposed on the Villages of Orleans, represent a “slap on the wrist.”
“This is a prime example of why we need fundamental reform of our nursing home system. We need to re-examine it from top to bottom,” Ryan said. “Fines should act as deterrents to bad behavior, but the current fine structure is basically a slap on the wrist for these for-profit nursing homes. ”
According to federal records, the Villages of Orleans is a for-profit nursing home owned by Bernard Fuchs.
