Sanctions that could include loss of federal funding loom for a nursing home that has been called one of New Jersey’s worst; it’s the same facility where the bodies of 17 patients who had died of COVID-19 were found stored in a shed in April 2020. Federal regulators are threatening to cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding — basically, shut the place down — if Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center doesn’t fix severe safety violations by March 3.

Laurie Brewer, New Jersey’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman, said,  “…many of the people I met there said that they feel like prisoners.” It’s a tough problem that could take months to solve. Residents are being assessed for possible community-based placements. Meanwhile, President Biden in his State of the Union speech Tuesday promoted a list of nursing home reforms designed to improve patient care.