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Survey shows standards not met at local nursing home

The Logan Daily News - 10/21/2017

LOGAN - The potential fall out from alleged wrongful acts at Arcadia Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is part of the reason it will be closing its doors after about 50 years of serving the community, according to the facility's legal counsel. Furthermore, residents there are currently in the process of moving out of a place they called home.

Geoff Webster, of Webster & Associated, the legal counsel for Arcadia Acres Inc., said on Monday, everyone was notified that Arcadia Acres would be closing.

At the beginning of this week, Webster shared that there were about 30 to 32 residents living at the facility and as of Thursday there were 10 residents remaining.

Webster stated that the law requires a 90-day notice, which means about mid-January it's set to close. However, he said as soon as residents are completely relocated, it will be shutdown.

"When the decision was made, they determined that they would stop admitting residents because it would simply not be fair," he remarked. "I would rank the facility high in the state. It's a five-star facility."

Webster then acknowledged a "staff incident" that was reported to the Ohio Department of Health by the facility.

"It's anticipated that the state's reaction to that is to fine the business over the act done by a single employee that the facility's staff reported," Webster explained. "It's a small facility so it operated on a very small margin. It cannot absorb any kind of monetary penalty because of a wrongful act of an employee."

The Logan Daily News reached out to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and a spokesperson said the facility received a survey, which is more than 80 pages, on Monday and it has 10 business days to reply with a plan of correction.

In the survey investigation complaint, which was completed on Wednesday, Nov. 11, close to a dozen standards were not met by Arcadia Acres Inc., according to the Ohio Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The survey reports that resident three, who required continuous ventilator support, had respiratory distress and was found unresponsive with the ventilator tubing disconnected. Resident three's ventilator alarm was sounding for an unknown length of time, according to the report.

It reads that it, "resulted in immediate jeopardy, serious life-threatening harm and subsequent death when the director of nursing neglected to respond for approximately 20 minutes following the notification of a significant change in condition."

For resident three, the survey reports that the facility failed to meet certain standards under - prohibiting mistreatment and neglect; investigate/report allegations/individuals; develop/implement abuse/neglect, etc. policies; right to participate planning care; services provided meet professional standards; provide care/services for highest well being; and treatment/care for special needs.

Next, it establishes that resident one was admitted to Arcadia Acres in 2012, with Parkinson's disease and hypertensive heart disease. Resident one was receiving Hospice services and died Sept. 18.

In the complaint, it noted that on Sept. 8 there was a discussion among the Hospice Nurse, the director of nursing and a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) about scheduling a family meeting with patient number one because of critical lab results showing low potassium, chloride and sodium levels.

In the complaint, it stated in part, "there was no evidence in the record the family was notified or a meeting was scheduled." Furthermore, there was no documented evidence that the resident's representative was notified of the resident's change in condition between Sept. 13 and Sept. 18.

Furthermore, a State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) verified that resident one's family did inform her of care concerns and she notified the director of nursing but not the administrator. The facility's policy is to report any alleged violations involving neglect or abuse to the administrator.

For patient one, the survey reports that the facility failed to meet certain standards under - notifying resident one's representative of a significant change in condition; acting upon and resolve resident care and safety concerns; provision of medically related social service; right to participate planning care; free of accident hazards/supervision/devices; drug regimen is free from unnecessary drugs; and physicians visits/review care/notes/orders.

Webster also went on to note that regulatory climate, changes that are coming on how Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement is calculated also impacted the decision to call it quits. He said one Medicare day of service is generally three days of Medicaid revenue.

"You need the Medicare to sustain it because if you're a Medicaid only facility, you can't do very well," he stated. "Every facility in Ohio is required to participate in both Medicare and Medicaid."

Another issue for the facility is meeting all the regulatory compliance standards.

"The cost of compliance compared the rates - the facility cannot see a way to continue to provide that level of service," he stated. "Rather than waiting on some event to occur that would seriously impact residents, management decided that they were not going to go out with a big black eye."

Despite carrying itself well for the past seven or eight years, Arcadia Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been reportedly losing money the past several months, according to Webster.

"When you're projecting some fine of some amount is going to be added on top of that, there is no source for it," he continued. "When it comes to the point of where does the money come from to pay a fine, the business doesn't sustain the cash flow to absorb it and continue to deliver quality care and services. They were already losing money."

The facility reportedly went from having about 40 residents to the low 30s and that's when Webster said, "the bleeding started."

As for the employees, Webster was unsure of how many are staffed at the facility. He wanted to make it clear that the remaining residents will be well taken care of.

"They'll feed, groom, care for, maintain, and operate as normal. Logan is losing an asset," he concluded.

Edward Telle is the owner of Arcadia Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. He also owns Main Street Terrace Care Center in Lancaster, and Willowood Care Center near Medina. Webster said only Arcadia Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is closing.

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