{"id":2856,"date":"2020-04-10T16:44:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T21:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2020-04-10T16:44:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T21:44:20","slug":"the-doj-launches-a-national-nursing-home-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=2856","title":{"rendered":"The DOJ Launches a National Nursing Home Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alayna Frauhiger <\/em><\/p>\n

Associate Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

On March 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (\u201cDOJ\u201d) launched a National Nursing Home Initiative<\/a> to \u201ccoordinate and enhance civil and criminal efforts to pursue nursing homes and long-term care facilities that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.\u201d The DOJ\u2019s new initiative adds to its extensive efforts<\/a> to combat elder abuse and financial fraud targeted at American seniors. The initiative will start with a focus<\/a> on some of the worst nursing homes and enhance all civil and criminal efforts<\/a> to pursue the nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.<\/p>\n

Why increase the focus on nursing homes? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice has a long history<\/a> of holding nursing homes and long-term care providers accountable when they fail to provide their Medicare and Medicaid residents with even the most basic nursing services,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Civil Division. Since the Medicaid and Medicare programs pay billions of dollars each year to nursing facility operators for long-term care services, it is critical to crack down on the fraud and abuse in these facilities.<\/p>\n

Attorney General William P. Barr noted that \u201cmillions of seniors<\/a> count on nursing homes to provide them with quality care and to treat them with dignity and respect when they are most vulnerable. Yet, all too often, [the DOJ] has found nursing home owners or operators who put profits over patients, leading to instances of gross abuse and neglect.\u201d This national initiative<\/a> will bring to justice those owners and operators who have profited at the expense of their residents, and help to more effectively and quickly pursue nursing homes that are jeopardizing the health and well-being of their residents.<\/p>\n

Identifying problematic nursing homes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DOJ has already launched investigations<\/a> into approximately 30 nursing homes in nine states as part of this effort. Though the specific facilities and states currently under investigation have yet to be disclosed to the public, the department is using several factors when identifying problematic<\/a> nursing homes, such as:<\/p>\n