Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Stark & Stark Law Firm : Elder Care, Senior Care

As reported recently, a New Jersey Labor Union recently narrowly avoided a strike.  The article referenced three nursing homes - Manhattan View Nursing Home in Union City, Teaneck Nursing Center in Teaneck, and Amboy Care Center in Perth Amboy. All three are operated by Michael Konig.
 
As we have noted in this blog, the first order of business in caring for nursing home residents is to hire qualified staff - and treat them well.
 

To read the full article click here. (PDF)

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David Cohen, Shareholder in the Personal Injury Group, concentrates his practice in nursing home negligence and abuse claims, elder abuse and assisted living facility litigation. Mr. Cohen is the Chair Elect for the American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) Nursing Home Litigation Group.

AAJ released an original research report on the insurance industry, “Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse.” The new report describes some of the most egregious ways the insurance industry attempts to make money at the expense of consumers. Additionally, the new report details six tactics that target policyholders, names the insurance companies that are engaging in these practices, and lays out what consumers can do to prevent abuses and fight back.

You can read the full report here (PDF).

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Here is an article on the National Rating System for Nursing Homes. It is with mixed feelings that I can report on the new CMS ratings system for nursing homes.  Although I appreciate any effort to get more information to consumers, a nursing home's performance and systemic issues which may plague it are very nuanced.  I do not believe that a star rating system will provide enough valuable information and might serve to dumb-down the screening process for consumers.  All residents (and their needs) are different.  A nursing home that is weak in some areas may be strong in others.  That being said, I am sure that a very poorly rated facility will be doubly motivated to improve its score.  Time will tell how well the new system will work.

 

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During a recent deposition, the Administrator of a nursing home failed to understand the importance of accurately completing MDS reports. These are federally mandated status reports which are regularly completed by the nursing homes. It is the governments way of keeping an eye on, among other things, the rate of pressure ulcers in any given facility. When inconsistencies were pointed out to the administrator, he dismissed them and said “accidents happen.” If indeed it was an accident, it is inexcusable. The MDS coordinator (the person at the facility who is trained to provide the information) reported only two Stage II decubitus ulcers when five existed, two of which were far more developed than a Stage II. I suspect the information was falsified as the facility runs the risk of losing medicaid and medicare reimbursement if there are too many incidents of unexplained ulcers.

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