Editor’s note: This report has been updated.
“We sounded the alarm last year and we’re sounding it again today. A year later, not much has changed,” said New Jersey’s acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. He was referring to his follow-up survey of nursing homes with rock-bottom ratings, which shows little improvement at a dozen facilities with problematic health reports involving poor patient care, dirty living conditions, inept staff, and mismanaged medications.
Walsh said about 1,500 people live in these homes that — despite persistent, one-star performances — collect $103 million a year in Medicaid funding from taxpayers. “The bottom line is, we shouldn’t be using Medicaid funding to fund poor-quality care … The goal should be for us to see the red flags, to see the warning signs, and to get to a place where our state policy can protect people before it gets so bad that we have to act urgently.
Industry spokesman Andy Aronson said struggling facilities need more, not less, funding. He called the star rating system a bell curve. “Even if deficiencies were cited during a survey — during that process, they were corrected. And all of those facilities were in compliance with federal and state regulations by the time the survey ended,” Aronson said.
Editor’s note: NJ Spotlight News received statements from the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services as this story was being aired.
Dalya Ewais, the communications director at the Department of Health, said in a statement, “The Department, working alongside fellow partners in the Murphy Administration — including the Department of Human Services — and legislators, has taken steps over the last year focused on long-term care reform and resiliency to improve the lives of residents in facilities and to provide information to the public on the operations of all LTCFs in the State.”
Tom Hester, communications director for the Department of Human Services, said in a statement, “Our Department agrees that ensuring high-quality care for residents in long-term care facilities is of critical importance.
“While the recommendations in the report are undoubtedly well-intended and driven by that same goal, removing Medicaid funding from a licensed facility — especially on the basis of potentially incomplete data — may be more likely to endanger remaining residents.”
