How do you stay in business when you’ve just been listed as one of the 54 worst in your trade nationally?
That is the latest fate of the Apollo Health & Rehabilitation Center in Tampa. The U.S. Government listed the Apollo on its “poor performing nursing home” list according to the St. Petersburg Times.
The list serves as an alert to the facilities to improve, as well as giving patients a sounding board, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), which ranked the nursing homes.
The “Poor 54” cited homes that failed to fix problems listed in two inspections in the last year, said Jeff Nelligan, director of media affairs for CMMS. The Apollo was one of three Florida facilities on the list. The two others on the infamous list are Key West Convalescent Center and Palms Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Lauderdale Lakes.
Florida officials uncovered 11 violations in an August inspection this year. Among the citations were failing to properly proper care for residents with feeding tubes, mismanagement of resident funds and faulty reviews of patient drug schedules. In February, inspectors found 17 violations, including physically restraining residents for "discipline or convenience.”
The Apollo had been assigned the six-month inspection cycle, instead of the standard annual review due to reported deficiencies, said Polly Weaver, bureau chief for the Agency for Health Care Administration. So whom at the Apollo is surprised?
For one, its administrator, Jon Bradford, who declined to talk to the Times but issued this statement. "We don't believe the list accurately represents current care at Apollo. The (federal) list is outdated and based on information nearly two years old. We addressed those issues immediately and have continuously demonstrated a commitment to providing quality care for our patients."
Among the reported problems was an egregious one. Apollo staff members failed to report changes in a dying resident's condition to her doctor and to provide her with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The resident died, resulting in a pair of citations in 2006 and a fine of $10,000. The Apollo appealed but Administrative Judge Steven Kessel labeled the state's findings a "classic evidence of neglect." The judge said, "There is no way of deciding whether withholding CPR caused the resident to die but withholding CPR deprived her of the possibility of life."
The Apollo is owned by Greenbrook NH LLC and registered to Greystone Healthcare Management Corp. in Tampa. Greystone Tribeca Acquisition LLC of New York is the company's management firm, according to the Times.
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