Nursing Home’s Medicare Funds Threatened

Federal regulators have warned a nursing home operator that it will soon lose its Medicare funding if the facility does not quickly comply with state and federal health and safety regulations.

The sanction, if imposed, means that 120 residents of the Victoria Care Center in Ventura who pay for care with government funding could be forced to find alternative housing, said Scott Carlson, vice president of the nursing home’s operator, Beverly Healthcare of Fort Smith, Ark.

In a Jan. 25 letter, regulators with the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration said Medicare funding would end Feb. 14 unless the center is able to demonstrate that it is providing minimum standards of care for its total 180 residents.

Lea Brooks, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Health Services, which passes on the Medicare dollars through its Medi-Cal program, said the state agency is working closely with the nursing home to avert a termination in federal funding.

“They have made some improvements and so we are very hopeful they will quickly come back into compliance,” Brooks said.

Just 14 of the 24 skilled-nursing homes in Ventura County accept Medi-Cal payments and all have waiting lists for beds, said Susan Neely of Long Term Care Ombudsmen, a Ventura nursing home clearinghouse. Victoria Care Center is the only nursing home in Ventura that accepts Medi-Cal, although other homes that do are in Oxnard, she said.

Children of aging parents flooded Victoria Care Center with calls Thursday after receiving a letter detailing the federal agency’s ruling, Carlson said. In the letter, Beverly Healthcare told relatives that funding will continue for a 30-day period even if Victoria Care’s provider contract is discontinued.

After that, the home’s operators would decide whether to continue to care for the affected residents without payment while seeking reinstatement to the Medicare program or to “safely discharge” them to other facilities, Carlson said.

Mary Thompson of Oxnard said she is “hysterical” at the thought of finding another home for her 92-year-old mother. Thompson said she is disabled by a spinal tumor and is unable to care for her aging mother herself. She also cannot afford the $150-a-day cost of her mother’s care.

“What do the families do? Who do we turn to?” Thompson said. “There is no where else to go in the county.”

The administrative action was prompted by the regulators’ contention that the care provided to the home’s elderly residents was below minimum standards, during visits to the facility last year and during a more recent review.

In August, an elderly woman fell out of bed when the bed’s side rails were down, and required stitches to her forehead, Carlson said. And in a recent visit, state regulators observed call lights that went unanswered for up to 18 minutes, he said.

Beverly Healthcare, which began operating the center a year ago, is attempting to respond to regulators’ concerns. The primary problem is insufficient staffing, which Beverly Healthcare has addressed by starting an in-house program to train certified nursing assistants, Carlson said.

“We are caring for frail elderly whose average age is 85,” he said. “Anyone who has cared for the elderly knows this is extremely challenging. And then you have hundreds of regulations that have to be followed.”

Thompson, whose mother has been at Victoria Care since July, said she has been satisfied with the level of care.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give them an 8,” she said. “I have had no problems with the facility.”