This is the symbolic rating number we often assign to people, places, or things that have some how excelled with service by design or by nature. We love rating systems and it allows us all to be judgemental reviewers without recourse or requirement in which to substantiate our opinion. We can lie, we can exaggerate, we can tell the truth but again it is only our own completely and totally objective belief that we are right and this is deserved, be it good or bad. Okay, that is why I never use YELP or any other review system as who the fuck are you and how do I know this is legit. For years we have faced that same bullshit on Amazon and just for laughs I ordered a light bulb from one company on Amazon and another on Light Bulbs plus. The one on Amazon was 60 bucks, the one on Light Bulb was 20. They were identical. To return it I had to jump through many hoops in which to do so as the vendor in Amazon was well not legit in the least. I showed Amazon the bulb, photos of them, links to Lightbulb plus and that was that. Not the first time not the last, well maybe, I hope.
So reviews unless they are in valid sources of information such as newspapers and journals I have no time for. Your Uncle Williams love of the BBQ joint down the street is great but I can make up my own mind. And I have disagreed with many professional reviewers in my day but that is what free minds do, they don’t think alike. And I have often disregarded reviews to find that I may or may not agree but again, free will, free choice. However there are times when you realize that this rating system may be gamed and when it applies to Nursing Homes I have to wonder who is rating them? Well it appears they are doing it themselves. It may explain a lot. They did not need Andrew Cuomo at all to send the sick in there to die, they were managing quite well on their own.
This article, Maggots, Rape and Yet Five Stars: How U.S. Ratings of Nursing Homes Mislead the Public, from the New York Times goes into questioning the practice of the rating system to assist those in finding a home to shove Granny right after you get that conservatorship taken care to make sure the money train is not going the wrong way! If they don’t manage to kill her then a cruise is always available.
And because of that investigation the State of California is suing Brookdale Homes. Gosh it took this thing called a newspaper to do what the State should have been doing all along. And to think you folks hate mainstream media. Do you love it less than your Grandmother?
The article states: The lawsuit is among the first of its kind to accuse nursing homes of submitting false information to Medicare’s ratings program. The system assigns stars — one being the worst, five being the best — to the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes.
The system is powered by largely unaudited data submitted by nursing homes, including the amount of time that nurses spend with residents, and in-person examinations by state health inspectors.
And this is not the first time such institutions have faced similar investigations, largely for Medicare fraud as killing old people is good money. Philip Esformes, who operated a chain of nursing home facilities in South Florida, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday after he was found guilty of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid through a scheme of kickbacks and money laundering in what the U.S. Department of Justice said is the largest healthcare fraud case in U.S. history.
Or this nursing home:
Owners of a nursing home chain with ties to Beaver County will pay nearly $15.5 million to settle claims the company provided needless rehabilitation in an effort to meet financial goals.
Guardian Elder Care Holdings, based in Jefferson County and owned by Peter Varischetti, settled with the federal government last week following whistleblower complaints it provided unnecessary rehab therapy to residents – some with dementia or in hospice care – to make money, overlooking clinical needs of patients.
The company owns more than 50 nursing homes in Pennsylvania and neighboring states, including Beaver Elder Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hopewell Township.
Or how about these whistleblowers who told on their bosses:
Between January of 2010 and April of 2012, Benjamin Monsod was a nurse assessment coordinator at Longwood’s Montrose Healthcare Center. In this position, also known as MDS coordinator, he was charged with designing care plans for residents; a task that likely allowed him to detect fraudulent billings based on inappropriate care plans and unnecessary rehabilitation therapy sessions.
According to the lawsuit filed by Monsod and Boyce, “Through his employment at the Montrose facility, Mr. Monsod gained first-hand knowledge of the fraudulent scheme.” Monsod is currently an MDS at the Casitas Care Center, a California-based SNF.
A Kansas, resident, whistleblower Judy Boyce worked at the Golden Living Center in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, between 2004 and 2010, first as a Social Service Director and later as the facility’s Executive Director.
The Cottonwood Falls Golden Living Center is owned by Aegis, a company that is also a defendant in the lawsuit. Aegis provides skilled nursing services for many Longwood operated facilities. According to the Boyce-Monsod lawsuit, “Through her employment at the Cottonwood Falls facility, Ms. Boyce gained first-hand knowledge of the fraud.”
Whistleblower Keith Pennetti has been the Director of Operations for California at RPM Rehab since 2012. A physical therapist by training, Pennetti was described by one of his employers as “an industry leader in rehabilitative medicine for over 20 years,” and an expert in “compliance training.” Undoubtedly, Mr. Pennetti, was also in an ideal position to detect fraudulent behavior by the defendants.
A secret internal investigation of fraud at Indiana’s largest nursing home system alleges more schemes, more conspirators and far greater financial losses than anything previously disclosed.
After the FBI raided the office and Carmel home of then-American Senior Communities CEO James Burkhart in 2015, Burkhart and four associates were charged. They pleaded guilty in 2017.
Federal prosecutors said the five men set up shell companies to inflate costs and pay themselves kickbacks on vendor contracts for landscaping, food, medical supplies and more. In all, $19 million was stolen, prosecutors said.
From the Washington Post:
For-profit nursing home providers that have faced accusations of Medicare fraud and kickbacks, labor violations or widespread failures in patient care received hundreds of millions of dollars in “no strings attached” coronavirus relief aid meant to cover shortfalls and expenses during the pandemic, a Washington Post analysis of federal spending found.
More than a dozen companies that received federal funding have settled civil lawsuits in recent years with the Justice Department, which alleged improper Medicare billing, forged documents, substandard care and other abuses.
The companies repaid the government a total of more than $260 million and nearly all are under active corporate integrity agreements with the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — the same department that distributed the payments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or Cares Act. The five-year agreements require independent audits, employee training and other enhanced reporting protocols.
This story in the Guardian tells how the quest for profit is what is killing the industry and your Grandmother. Largely it is due thanks to the Vulture Capitalists who seem to think flipping homes is another great way to make money, fuck the old.
Flipping, or the buying and selling of nursing homes with the purpose of turning a quick profit, is exceedingly common. Once dominated by individual, family-owned non-profits, over the past few decades the industry has experienced the penetration of for-profit corporate ownership leading to an increase in facility sales and contributing to the overall uptick in closures across the US – more than 550 nursing homes (out of a total of 15,600) have closed since June 2015.
Again in that blog post I wrote about Women and Aging we are the group most likely to end up fucked and in the cold. If we live that long. And nursing homes are not just for old but for those who need assistance in living and caring for themselves after surgical procedures. What many families do is think it is temporary and that their family member can get the care and rehab they cannot provide at home, not realizing that few if any staff are available, capable and able to provide the care and service one needs. And that there are services now with Nursing associates who can come to your home and do so. I hired one after my surgery and in many cases this is covered under insurance plans and Medicare. Staying home is the best revenge, you live. But then again who wants Granny living with them, she’s old and shit.
Off the Rack Publishing 