43
State: Cedarcreek not in compliance with Medicaid/Medicare
By Kalea Hall
WARREN
The Ohio Department of Health has issued a notice to Cedarcreek Health & Rehabilitation that it is not in compliance with the requirements of Medicare and or/Medicaid programs.
After a survey of the nursing home on Tod Avenue, the department sent a notice to the Cedarcreek facility’s administrator Thursday with a list of actions that will be taken against the facility.
The actions include state monitoring effective immediately and discretionary denial of payment for new Medicare and Medicaid admissions that went into effect Monday.
The department also recommended that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services transfer the residents in the facility and terminate the facility’s Medicare and Medicaid provider agreement effective no later than Feb. 18.
Tennessee-based New Beginnings Care LLC operates the Warren facility and has filed for bankruptcy. New Beginnings claims to have 100 to 199 creditors, assets of $0 to $50,000 and liabilities of $1 million to $10 million.
A representative from New Beginnings did not return an email request for a comment.
New Beginnings operated Campus Health Care Center at 196 Colonial Drive in Liberty, which it shut down in late January after the state health department proposed revoking the license there. The state said the lack of staffing at the Campus facility led to danger for the nearly 40 residents there. Those residents were transferred to other facilities.
The health department performed an inspection at Cedarcreek on Dec. 11 and found a pattern of deficiency that constituted no actual harm but required corrections.
The health department gave the facility a list of recommended remedies that would be imposed if the center did not “attain substantial compliance” of the Medicare and Medicaid services by Jan. 30.
On Wednesday, the state health department performed another inspection and found the facility still was not in compliance with the services, and that “conditions in the facility constitute immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety,” the notice to the company reads.
“We have determined that the remedies being imposed and recommended are in the best interest of the facility residents and the most appropriate to encourage prompt corrective action and sustained compliance,” the state’s notice reads.
New Beginnings can appeal the state’s finding.
The Area Agency on Aging 11 has been at the nursing home helping residents who might choose to go to another facility. The facility has about 18 residents.
“It’s not their treatment facility; it’s their home,” said John Saulitis, director of the long-term care ombudsman program, which is a part of the agency. “We don’t make the choices for residents.”