California Sues Brookdale Nursing Home Chain

A senior woman sitting and looking out from the window

Salinas), claiming that they have manipulated the Medicare ratings system to make their nursing homes look more attractive than they actually are.  The lawsuit is among the first of its kind to accuse nursing homes of submitting false information to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, which uses data on the amount of time spent with residents and pairs it with in-person examinations by state health inspectors.  The facility is then ranked based on stars, allowing consumers to choose which facility they want to put a loved one in.  The lawsuit accuses Brookdale of falsifying its payroll-based journal entries, effectively stating that they have more staff than they do.   Prosecutors also are accusing Brookdale of illegally evicting or transferring residents so the chain could replace them with clients that generate more revenue.  A former Brookdale nursing assistant said in a deposition that her supervisors told her to falsify medical records to make it look like patients received more care than they did.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/business/california-lawsuit-brookdale-senior-living-nursing-homes.html?campaign_id=49&emc=edit_ca_20210316&instance_id=28107&nl=california-today&regi_id=52105769&segment_id=53505&te=1&user_id=7052b81671c57203c64c377c7522baa7

https://www.brookdale.com/en/communities/brookdale-salinas.html?cid=yext