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July 3, 2007

Johnston nursing home cited for bed sores

The Health Department is monitoring the Briarcliffe Manor nursing home after two patients were declared in “immediate jeopardy” because of severe bed sores and transferred to another nursing home.

A third patient who suffered a bed sore that tunneled from the bottom of his spine through to his groin had already left the nursing home for the hospital early last month.

All three patients were terminally ill and undergoing hospice care. Raymond Rusin, the Health Department’s chief of facilities regulation, said these patients did not get the level of attention that their frail conditions required.

The nursing staff also failed to notify the patients’ families of the bed sores as required by state law, and the home’s director of nursing was not aware of the problems.

The “immediate jeopardy” ruling, declared on June 22 and made public today, means that the nursing home’s failure to follow regulations “has caused or is likely to cause serious injury, harm, impairment or death to a resident,” according to federal law.

The finding triggered a threat from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to stop paying for services there effective July 19, which could have shut the nursing home.

But Rusin said because Briarcliffe submitted a preliminary plan of correction, the home is no longer in danger of losing its Medicare certification or closing down.

It still must demonstrate that it has identified and corrected the problems that led to the bed sores, also called pressure ulcers.

“The facility responded very quickly and has been very positive in terms wanting to identify exactly what the issue is,” Rusin said. “We’ve continued to monitor. They have done exactly what they said they were going to do.”

Posted by Peter Phipps  at 5:47 PM | Permalink

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daisywise1 | July 4, 2007 9:14 AM link

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