State and federal inspection records show that about a dozen homes were cited for protecting COVID-19 patients from citizens who did have the virus.
At least 20 of them were cited by members who overlooked washing their hands or wearing masks, gloves or gowns. Inspectors discovered examples of un supervisory citizens in another half-dozen unmasked nursing homes and sitting near other patients.
The state has fined 23 retirement homes a total of $328,000 for violations since March 1, to Department of Health spokeswoman Jill Montag.
The largest fine, $50,000, imposed at humboldt House’s Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Buffalo, where inspectors discovered patients who tested positive for COVID-19 combined on the same floors with others who did not have the virus.
During an inspection in April, a housekeeper watched a COVID-19 patient dressed in a torn mask that left her nose exposed, then went to the room of a resident who did not have the virus without turning her blouse or mask. or hug your hands properly.
The housekeeper agreed to tell the inspector that she had not replaced her blouse because she only received a blouse consistent with the shift due to scarcity.
Phone and electronic messages left to the directors of nursing homes were returned immediately.
Coronavirus wreaked havoc on nursing homes in the United States last spring. In New York, state officials report that at least 6,656 nursing home citizens have died, this number is an insufficient count that does not come with patients who died after being transferred to hospitals. .
New York City fitness officials have conducted approximately 1,900 inspections at the state’s 613 retirement homes and 540 adult care services since March 1.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in April that families may face $10,000 penalties consistent with the violation or lose their non-compliance licenses.
Inspectors discovered infection violations in 62 nursing homes, about one in 10 in the state, Montag said, and six infractions were classified as severe enough to put patients at immediate risk.
The count of fines for state inspections was first reported through USA TODAY New York.
Stephen Hanse, president and chief executive of the New York State Health Facilities Association and the New York State Assisted Living Center, said that most, if not all, of the fines were for “easily correctable” disorders and questioned whether fines were the most productive form of attendance safety.
Nursing homes, he said, are still struggling to have enough personnel and protective devices as they regulate conflicting state and federal regulations.
“Therefore, imposing fines on suppliers with the sole purpose of securing income is not in the most productive interest to ensure that they have sufficient resources to continue to provide care and combat this pandemic,” Hanse said.
Lindsay Heckler, a lawyer at buffalo-based Center for Elder Law and Justice, said infections in U. S. nursing homes have long since been lacking.
“I think it’s a wake-up call for retirement home managers,” he said. “It is in the public eye and we, as a society, are not going to allow it anymore. “
New York now asks patients to test negative for coronavirus before being admitted to nursing homes. It has restrictions for visitors who can simply bring the disease, but asks that facility be reviewed weekly and has access to a source of protective equipment.
In the early months of the outbreak in New York, some nursing homes struggled to obtain enough protective devices or were reluctant to distribute them to patients.
The Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation of 200 beds in New York City was fined $24,000 after an inspection in May revealed infection problems, adding patients who did not wear masks.
“If a resident has symptoms of COVID, they are treated with a mask. Otherwise, citizens are not presented with a mask in the unit,” the inspection report states. “Unity is a unit of dementia, and citizens are not encouraged to practice social estating. “
A spokesman for the nursing home, David Simpson, declined to comment.
In addition to infection control violations, inspectors cited at least 8 nursing homes for not reporting, as it should be, COVID-19 deaths to the state or for allowing patients’ relatives to wait days and weeks to be informed of new infections and deaths in institutions. .
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