California Sues National Nursing Home Chain for Manipulating ‘Star Rating’ System
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and several other District and City attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the nursing home chain Brookdale Senior Living. The lawsuit highlights several allegations that Brookdale violated the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law.
Brookdale Senior Living is recognized as one of the largest senior living communities in the nation with over 68,000 operating facilities. Although the chain has senior living communities all across the nation, the lawsuit is aimed at the California facilities located in Bakersfield, Camarillo, Carlsbad, Northridge, Rancho Mirage, San Diego, San Dimas, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Rosa, and Yorba Linda.
The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home chain gave misleading and false information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The falsified information that was given resulted in unfair star ratings that painted the facilities as locations that offered exceptional care when in actuality, they did not. This star rating system is what allows the public to discern between different facilities when seeking care for themselves or a loved one. By falsifying the information Brookdale Senior Living gave the CMS, prospective and current patients did not receive the level of care they were being told the facilities provided.
Because of the false information, CMS advertised that Brookdale had high ratings on the “Nursing Home Compare” section of its website. The misleading high star ratings pertained to the categories of “RN Staffing,” “Staffing,” and “Overall.” Part of the allegations includes Brookdale falsifying payroll records to inflate the actual hours registered nurses put in.
The CMS Star rating system was designed to help patients compare different facilities so that they could find one that offered a desired level of care. However, this manipulation by such a large chain has many wondering about the star rating credibility. A recent study that looked at the Nursing Home Compare website highlights that “A 2015 review of evidence on patient safety in nursing homes concluded that patient safety outcomes in such facilities have not been well studied and that patient safety measures taken from the hospital setting are unlikely to apply to the nursing home context, with its unique set of resident characteristics and regulatory environment.”
In addition to allegations that Brookdale played a role in obtaining inadequate star ratings, the lawsuit points the finger at Brookdale’s failure to properly notify a patient or their family when a resident was discharged or transferred from the facility. Failure to notify patients and families in a timely manner left many scrambling to find alternative care facilities. Along with this, because of the lack of communication for transfers and discharges, prosecutors allege the health and safety of patients became compromised. The lawsuit explains, “Brookdale does this so it can fill its beds with residents who will bring in more money.
Facilities typically are paid substantially more by Medicare than from other sources, such as Medi-Cal.” The team of DAs argues that Brookdale would discharge patients when their Medicare coverage ended in order to free up more beds for new patients.
In a statement released by the Attorney General's office, Becerra states, “We are holding Brookdale accountable for artificially increasing its profits by cutting corners when transferring or discharging its patients. It lured individuals to its facilities through false promises about providing the highest quality care."
The lawsuit against the national nursing home chain is the first of its kind. The lawsuit is seeking to charge the nursing facility with civil penalties of $2,500 for each violation. Additionally, the lawsuit is seeking an injunction to keep the chain from repeat unlawful conduct. Brookdale has yet to release a statement concerning the lawsuit or its allegations.
