The state Department of Health Services records found the center failed to do the following: 1) investigate injuries to rule out abuse, 2) provide regular catheter cleansing and 3) failed to notice a resident’s three broken ribs.
Radio station KTAR.com said the state is allowing the center to remain open and care for residents until funds are officially terminated. In the meantime, the center is making plans to transfer residents to local nursing homes.
CBS affiliate KPHO.com quoted Michael Murphy of the Department of Health Services as saying, "When Medicare and Medicaid terminates funding, that's pretty severe and unusual. Any time you have vulnerable, elderly residents who are in a position where they could be harmed, it's disturbing."
As reported in the Arizona Capital Times, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) said 9-10 licensed facilities on average [covered by the regional office of the federal government] get their Medicare agreements pulled a year — out of 1,500 that operate in Arizona, Nevada, California and Hawaii.
Paula Perse, long-term care manager for CMS, said the federal government issues official warnings to 150 facilities a year, but facilities usually are allowed six months to comply with federal law before agreements are terminated.
Evergreen Foothills was the first nursing home in Arizona to be stripped of federal and state funding in eight years, federal health officials said.
The facility serves 80 residents. Its’ performance on past appraisals has fluctuated, according to Silvia Balistreri, program manager for Long-Term Care Licensing Office of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The Capitol Times also discovered the following infractions:
• Blood-test work for an Alzheimer’s patient never was completed per a doctor’s order. The patient also had a broken arm that never was investigated, an injury described as being “suspicious of abuse.”
• The blood of an Alzheimer’s patient with severe clots contained “critical levels” of Coumadin, an anti-coagulant. Patient’s neck also was burned from “prolonged exposure” to a hair drier in the facility’s salon. Patient also had not been bathed for “weeks,” displaying “skin-integrity breakdown” and “significant amount of dry flaking particles on her scalp.”
• “Large amounts of brown material” fell off a paraplegic patient’s leg when a sock was removed for wound care. Records indicate the patient was “resistant” to showers and may have been bathed only once from Sept. 26 to Nov. 1. Plans to encourage resident to shower twice a week never were carried out. The resident was described as “disheveled and foul-smelling” in the report and unable to tell interviewers when she last had showered.
• Staff did not perform catheter care for a resident with diabetes. That duty usually was allowed to be performed by patient’s family. On one occasion, staff was observed incorrectly cleaning a resident’s catheter.
Jason
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