Hefty Medicare fines levied against nursing home chain accused of patient abuse

Choice Health Management Services has 16 facilities in North Carolina, most operated under the Universal Healthcare brand. Medicare has levied fines totaling $567,976 for problems at six of the facilities since 2015.

Universal Healthcare Fuquay-Varina topped the list, with $234,260 in fines, followed by Universal Healthcare Lillington, with fines of $151,483. Universal Healthcare North Raleigh was fined $31,186 two years ago, the smallest fine against any of the six facilities.

Rebecca Knapton said she set up a hidden camera in her father's room after he insisted he wasn't receiving good care. Richard Johnson, 68, is recovering from a stroke, and video from the hidden camera shows that he fell out of his bed early on April 10. It took more than an hour for staff to respond, and they berated him when they did.

Universal Health officials has said that the staffers who mistreated Johnson have been fired, and the rest of the staff has received additional training.

"I was completely disgusted. That was just terrible," Melvin Powell said of watching the hidden-camera video.

Powell last year filed a complaint against Universal Healthcare North Raleigh with the state after watching his mother and other residents ring for help but have to wait for a response.

"There's times that I come in, and there might be [call] lights on all the way down the hall," he said. "The people have the lights on, they'll start screaming, 'Help! Help!'"

The fines assessed against the three Universal Healthcare facilities in the Triangle combined to top the $246,000 in fines Medicare levied against 22 other nursing homes within a 25-mile radius of Raleigh in the past three years.

"More than 70 percent of the fines at our three facilities in and around Wake County are tied to two regrettable incidents at facilities other than the North Raleigh facility," Choice Health Management said in a statement. "One of those incidents occurred in 2015, and the other occurred at a separate facility in 2016. Immediately following the resolution of these two particular incidents, we successfully made changes that led to these facilities being deficiency-free for two consecutive years during our annual surveys.

"We attempt to correct any issues that are identified as quickly as possible. It is our responsibility to ensure that all patients and their families receive the care they need in an environment they trust," the statement said.

A doctor from an outside clinic found "maggots living in a wound on the resident's foot" when he removed the patient's shoes, according to a report. An aide at Universal Healthcare told investigators she discovered the maggots the previous day and went "screaming out of the room" without taking further action.

Universal Healthcare of Fuquay-Varina was fined after a resident at risk for wandering walked out the front door and across the parking lot. Inspectors checked all of the bracelets worn by at-risk patients to alert staff if they were about to wander off and found that none of them worked, according to a report.

"That's ridiculous," Powell said when he heard about the issues at Universal Healthcare facilities. "I am at a loss for words. I got to find a place to move my mom."

Other Choice Health Management facilities fined by Medicare include Universal Healthcare Greenville, $58,292; Blumenthal Nursing & Rehab in Greensboro, $54,209; and Universal Healthcare Concord, $38,546.