What penalties have IL nursing homes faced for serious citations in COVID inspections?

Mar. 6—More from the series

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COVID in nursing homes

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Nursing home's 'systemic failures' with COVID resulted in 8 resident deaths, IL says

What penalties have IL nursing homes faced for serious citations in COVID inspections?

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Metro-east nursing homes that received serious citations in 2020 inspections related to the coronavirus are now each facing over $200,000 in fines, which they may decide to appeal.

The Illinois Department of Public Health cited Integrity Healthcare of Smithton in September and Granite City'sStearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in August over problems it said put residents' health and safety in "immediate jeopardy." Nursing homes are required to make changes if the state says they did something wrong.

The state says both of the nursing homes allowed residents who tested positive for COVID-19 to share rooms with residents who had tested negative. Stearns Nursing and Rehab also allowed them to eat in the same dining room, according to the state's inspection report.

Nursing home residents are among the most vulnerable to severe illness or death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The nursing homes were cited for additional issues state inspectors found during investigations of complaints filed against them.

Stearns Nursing and Rehab previously said through a lawyer that it disputes some of the state's findings. Taylor Wilson, the nursing home's lawyer, did not immediately respond to a recent email and phone call requesting comment about whether or not the nursing home is appealing the sanctions.

Integrity of Smithton Administrator Sara Hoover-Shaw declined to comment.

Because "immediate jeopardy" is the most serious citation for nursing homes, it carries the most serious sanctions, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees the industry.

These are the amounts of fines each of the for-profit nursing home faces from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and from the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to the state:

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Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: $242,000 fine ($189,800 from federal and $52,200 from state)

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Integrity Healthcare of Smithton: $232,571 fine ($207,571 from federal and $25,000 from state)

In December, a third for-profit nursing home in the metro-east received an "immediate jeopardy" citation related to coronavirus regulations: Nashville's Friendship Manor Health Care. Its problems were related to isolating residents with COVID-19, cleaning and other measures to prevent the virus from spreading, according to the state inspection report.

Friendship Manor Administrator Heather Stich said in response to questions submitted by the BND that the nursing home's leaders disagree with the state's findings from the inspection because they believe the circumstances were misrepresented.

As of last month, the state and federal agencies had not yet decided on any penalties Friendship Manor will face.

The state denied Friendship Manor's first attempt at an appeal through a third-party reviewer, CertiServ, according to Stich. She said they have since requested a hearing with a federal administrative law judge, another option for nursing homes seeking to appeal citations.

Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said 50 of the more than 700 nursing homes in the state received "immediate jeopardy" citations in the COVID-19 inspections in 2020.

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