Three New Jersey nursing homes are being ordered to repay more than $2 million in Medicaid funds after an investigation by the Office of the State Comptroller found the facilities were chronically understaffed.
The state comptroller’s report zeroed in on the Belle Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Trenton, Barnegat Nursing and Rehabilitation and Barclays Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Cherry Hill. OSC is seeking to recover $735,180 from Barclays, $791,380 from Barnegat, and $647,304 from Belle Care.
The comptroller’s office says during a full month of observing the nursing homes, it found they all failed to meet the legal staffing requirements every day. Eighty-two patients at the Belle Care nursing home in Trenton went through three full shifts without a single staff member on duty, according to the report.
New Jersey state law requires one certified nurse aide to every eight residents during the day shift, one direct-care staff member to every 10 residents during the evening shift and one direct-care staff member to every 14 residents for the night shift. The Office of the State Comptroller says inadequate staffing correlates to lower quality of care.
In late March, OSC sent initial notices to the three facilities, notifying them of its findings of overpayments and directing them to repay Medicaid and submit corrective action plans. In their responses, the facilities said the staffing mandates are too onerous and therefore unconstitutional. The Health Care Association of New Jersey, which represents the long-term care industry, has sued to overturn the staffing mandates.
The comptroller’s office is planning to withhold 10% of all future Medicaid reimbursements to the nursing homes until the penalties are paid.
