News

Actions

State report of a $909,600 nursing home fine is changed to show a $75,645 fine

Lenox.jpg
Posted

A state report that indicated a Taylor County nursing home faced more than $900,000 in fines has been changed to indicate the actual penalty is roughly 8% of that amount.

Last week, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals’ website indicated that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had imposed a set of daily fines against the Lenox Care Center in Taylor County last October, with the fines continuing to accrue at a rate of $360 per day.

As of Friday, DIA reported, the total daily fines amounted to $909,600. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported the fine on Saturday, noting that the penalty represented one of the largest fines ever imposed against an Iowa care facility.

By Monday morning, DIA was reporting the fines totaled the afternoon, $910,680 — reflecting the expected increase from three additional days of daily fines. By Monday afternoon, however, the DIA website had been revised to show that CMS had fined the Lenox Care Center only $75,285.

DIA officials did not respond late Monday or early Tuesday when asked about the change. But a public relations person for the nursing home’s owner said Tuesday that company officials had contacted DIA on Monday and were told the agency’s database of state and federal fines was in error and that the state agency had incorrectly reported the fine that had been imposed against the Lenox Care Center.

As of Tuesday morning, DIA was reporting the total fine, so far, as $75,645 — indicating it continues to accrue at a rate of $360 per day for each day the home is alleged to be out of compliance with federal regulations.

The fine stems from state inspectors’ findings that a resident of the home was physically abused in August.

According to DIA records, the female victim of the abuse was a resident of the home who had a tendency to wander and was trying to leave the facility the evening of Aug. 20. When the woman failed to respond to a registered nurse’s commands, the nurse went to the doorway where the woman was trying to leave and grabbed her by the arm to force her back into a common area used by residents.

As she was pulled backward, the woman allegedly began to scream and cry out, saying, “Ow, stop, you are hurting me … You are abusing me, I know my rights.”

According to workers at the home, the woman fell to the floor and the nurse grabbed her by the shoulders and forcibly “slammed” her into a chair, and then instructed an aide to hold the woman down while the nurse wrapped the sheet around the woman’s legs. According to the workers’ description of the incident, the woman “was fighting like hell to get out of the chair” and was screaming, “Help! Why are you doing this?”

When the accused nurse was interviewed by inspectors, she denied having abused the woman. Asked why she had asked a colleague to bring her a bed sheet, the nurse admitted making the request but said she quickly decided she “just could not do it” and so she never used the sheet.

In response to the incident, the state proposed $10,000 in fines that were held in suspension while CMS determined what action to take at the federal level. CMS then imposed two separate daily fines – one for $13,695 and one for $360 — for each day the facility remained out of compliance with federal regulations.

Lenox Care Center is owned by Florida’s Arboreta Healthcare chain, which operates 21 care facilities in Iowa. Sandra Bowers, the company’s chief nursing officer and compliance officer, said the Lenox Care Center self-reported the incident to DIA, and the staff has since been given supplemental training on how to handle such situations.

The nurse involved in the incident “was terminated and is no longer an employee of Arboreta Healthcare,” she said.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.

Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.

Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.