Last post I wrote about my contact with Beverley Speroff and her response to my request for information. This week I received a reply from the office of Kathleen Sebelius, in response to the same letter that was sent to Ms. Speroff . The response was pretty much the same, I was referred back to the local DHHS office. My next step was to write to Aldona Vos the Secretary of the NCDHHS, requesting the same information. As of yet I have not received a reply from Secretary Vos.
The reason for the letters is, the report of the investigation conducted by the NCDHSR. I have a copy of the documents from their investigation that are full of inaccurate information. I am only asking them to produce some sort of documentation concerning facts that are crucial to their investigation. I would assume that if they actually had done an investigation, there would be documentation of the facts. When you read the report, it appears that the things in question were simply the opinion of the investigator. That investigator, Todd Davis, is now the Western Regional Director of the NCDHSR nursing home licensure division. I guess like most government positions, incompetence is rewarded with a promotion!
I will continue to check the mail for a letter from Secretary Vos's office, but I am not holding my breath. It is obvious that the money the nursing home owners throw around is a huge obstacle. For the record, a copy of the letter sent to Secretary Vos was also sent to Governor Pat McCrory. If the media is correct, there seems to be a cozy relationship between Governor McCrory , Secretary Vos and her husband as well. My thinking is that the North Carolina group is seriously connected to a larger group in Washington. All of them simply looking for the biggest campaign contributions and special perks.
My brother found some pretty interesting facts, concerning referrals in the healthcare business. I know there are laws against physician self referral, yet CMS publishes a list of providers and referrals. The list indicates that DR. Larry Joe Russell averaged 2756 referrals a week for three years, and referred out 2243 a week, most of them to his office. Is that not what would be considered self referrals? I guess that the CMS is too busy doing whatever else they do to read their own reports!
Below is the link to DR. Russells referrals, take a look at the list of people sharing the same address.
http://w.npidashboard.com/relationship/1891772513
http://w.npidashboard.com/npi/1891772513
Self referrals ? Not Dr. Larry Joe.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Who is Beverly Speroff and the Nursing Home Licensure and Certification Division of NCDHHS protecting ?
I have been attempting to get a representative from the NCDHHS to explain their investigation results from the inspection of Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, resulting from my complaint. I started by calling the Western Regional office of NCDHSR in Black Mountain. This is the office that did the "administrative review " of the complaint findings. I spoke to the director Todd Davis, and asked if someone would explain the findings to me. Mr. Davis immediately took an offensive position, and denied my request simply because the survey was done in 2012.
The next step was to contact the State level director of NCDHSR , Ms. Beverly Speroff. I requested the same meeting from Ms. Speroff, explaining that it might help them in future investigations. Of course I was denied again because there have been investigations since my complaint. Ms. Speroff informed me they can not go back and cite a facility if there have been subsequent investigations. I wrote Ms. Speroff again, explaining that I did not expect them to write any citations. The reason for my request was simply to understand their findings from my complaint. After two weeks I received a response to my request. " We informed you in a letter dated February 6, 2014 that this request will not be honored because the investigation was completed in the spring of 2012. This matter is closed."
Does this mean the amount of time passed changes the fact that they failed to do a thorough job? Is the NCDHSR doing a perfect job with their investigations ? Am I not entitled to an explanation of the conflicting information in their report ?
If I have information that could improve the effectiveness of future investigations, why don't they want to know? Could it be that the same Todd Davis, was the lead investigator of my complaint ? I can understand why someone would not want their incompetency's exposed. The fact that those incompetency's affect the licensing of nursing homes, should be more important than ones pride. I am being nice in calling them incompetency's. I believe that the findings of the NCDHSR investigations are just plain false. There are no other explanations for their findings, not even plain old stupidity.
Is the NCDHSR incompetent, or are they another example of what money can buy in our political system? From everything I have seen and heard, my bet is good old fashioned corruption. The following paragraph is from Wikepedias definition of corruption.
Some forms of corruption – now called “institutional corruption” – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. Campaign contributions are a prime example. Even when they are legal, and do not constitute a quid pro quo, they have a tendency to bias the process in favor of special interests and undermine public confidence in the political institution. They corrupt the institution without individual members being corrupt themselves. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution.
When you look at the ownership of many nursing homes, you will find plenty of politicians. They go from County officials, all the way to Congressmen and Senators. There are also plenty of owners who belong to the same country clubs as the politicians. There is plenty of opportunity for corruption at any level. The fact that not one government agencey will follow through on a complaint against these people is a good indication of what is written above. Nursing home owners are major contributors to politicians, all the way up to the President. The nursing home PAC's have plenty of money to throw around, to obtain favors in the political arena.
The next step was to contact the State level director of NCDHSR , Ms. Beverly Speroff. I requested the same meeting from Ms. Speroff, explaining that it might help them in future investigations. Of course I was denied again because there have been investigations since my complaint. Ms. Speroff informed me they can not go back and cite a facility if there have been subsequent investigations. I wrote Ms. Speroff again, explaining that I did not expect them to write any citations. The reason for my request was simply to understand their findings from my complaint. After two weeks I received a response to my request. " We informed you in a letter dated February 6, 2014 that this request will not be honored because the investigation was completed in the spring of 2012. This matter is closed."
Does this mean the amount of time passed changes the fact that they failed to do a thorough job? Is the NCDHSR doing a perfect job with their investigations ? Am I not entitled to an explanation of the conflicting information in their report ?
If I have information that could improve the effectiveness of future investigations, why don't they want to know? Could it be that the same Todd Davis, was the lead investigator of my complaint ? I can understand why someone would not want their incompetency's exposed. The fact that those incompetency's affect the licensing of nursing homes, should be more important than ones pride. I am being nice in calling them incompetency's. I believe that the findings of the NCDHSR investigations are just plain false. There are no other explanations for their findings, not even plain old stupidity.
Is the NCDHSR incompetent, or are they another example of what money can buy in our political system? From everything I have seen and heard, my bet is good old fashioned corruption. The following paragraph is from Wikepedias definition of corruption.
Some forms of corruption – now called “institutional corruption” – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. Campaign contributions are a prime example. Even when they are legal, and do not constitute a quid pro quo, they have a tendency to bias the process in favor of special interests and undermine public confidence in the political institution. They corrupt the institution without individual members being corrupt themselves. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution.
When you look at the ownership of many nursing homes, you will find plenty of politicians. They go from County officials, all the way to Congressmen and Senators. There are also plenty of owners who belong to the same country clubs as the politicians. There is plenty of opportunity for corruption at any level. The fact that not one government agencey will follow through on a complaint against these people is a good indication of what is written above. Nursing home owners are major contributors to politicians, all the way up to the President. The nursing home PAC's have plenty of money to throw around, to obtain favors in the political arena.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
SanStone, twenty minutes to answer the call lights. Little shop of horrors !
Needless to say this has been an eye opening week for me. Some of what I've seen just proves to me that the care at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation is as bad as I always thought it was.
I've seen the call lights on down the hallway, and not a nurse in sight. I witnessed a patient in a wheel chair, with one arm bandaged up and useless, drag a walker the entire length of the hall.This was done with two nurses standing there watching as they talked. I've seen them move patients with and without the help of the lift, depending whether they can get someone to assist with the lift.
Yesterday I had to go down one of the other halls to get to the "big rehab room", the smell of urine and feces was so strong I held my breath. When I arrived, there were five or six patients and maybe four therapists. One gentleman was complaining that someone had just wheeled him there and left. He told one of the employees he had been in there for an hour and a half. I would assume that if you move all the residents to rehab or the dining room, they are easier to watch and less staff is needed.
I began this journey with one goal, and that was to spend time with a fellow church member who is dying. I was able to look past a lot of what I had seen, until it directly affected my friend.
I have seen him go a whole week without a shower. One day he was not given a shower because the heat was out in the shower room. The other day I finally reached my limit. As my friend was wheeled in after therapy, they left him in his wheelchair. While we were talking, his bladder released and his clothes got wet. He asked me to push the call button for a nurse to clean him and help him to bed. I pushed the button, and after five minutes I went outside the room to see if the light was on and if anyone was around. The light was on so I walked to the nurses station and there was one nurse there. I told her what had happened and she told me to push the call button. I told her that I had already done that and she just told me that the nurse would help when she came by. I went back into the room and waited with him. Finally after 20 minutes of sitting in urine soaked pants, two nurses showed up, they changed him and assisted him to bed. This was the first time I had ever seen them use the lift on him. It usually sits at the end of the hall against the wall.
I cant even imagine what happens to ones pride and self worth when treated this way. The nurses are so busy that they seem to resent you asking for anything. I have met a few nurses and cna's that seemed to have some compassion left, but they are few and far between. All of my visits were in the daytime hours between two and three, I cant even imagine how much worse it must be at night.
My experience with nursing homes reminds me of the way they portray mental institutions in old black and white movies.
I went there with the hope that things were not as bad as I remembered during Mom's stay. Unfortunatley I was dissappointed to see they were as bad or worse than I remembered from 2011. The problem is obvious, they do not have enough staff to provide the services needed by the residents. The staff that is there is overworked, and it shows in their attitude towards the patients.
SanStone, our passion makes us different, thats what they advertise. The truth is that their passion is the same as almost all the other nursing home groups, lots of money!!
I wonder how Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Christopher Sprenger and Michael Deloach would feel if they had to sit in their own urine for twenty minutes. I wonder how long they would go without a shower because they had no heat in their bathrooms?
I've seen the call lights on down the hallway, and not a nurse in sight. I witnessed a patient in a wheel chair, with one arm bandaged up and useless, drag a walker the entire length of the hall.This was done with two nurses standing there watching as they talked. I've seen them move patients with and without the help of the lift, depending whether they can get someone to assist with the lift.
Yesterday I had to go down one of the other halls to get to the "big rehab room", the smell of urine and feces was so strong I held my breath. When I arrived, there were five or six patients and maybe four therapists. One gentleman was complaining that someone had just wheeled him there and left. He told one of the employees he had been in there for an hour and a half. I would assume that if you move all the residents to rehab or the dining room, they are easier to watch and less staff is needed.
I began this journey with one goal, and that was to spend time with a fellow church member who is dying. I was able to look past a lot of what I had seen, until it directly affected my friend.
I have seen him go a whole week without a shower. One day he was not given a shower because the heat was out in the shower room. The other day I finally reached my limit. As my friend was wheeled in after therapy, they left him in his wheelchair. While we were talking, his bladder released and his clothes got wet. He asked me to push the call button for a nurse to clean him and help him to bed. I pushed the button, and after five minutes I went outside the room to see if the light was on and if anyone was around. The light was on so I walked to the nurses station and there was one nurse there. I told her what had happened and she told me to push the call button. I told her that I had already done that and she just told me that the nurse would help when she came by. I went back into the room and waited with him. Finally after 20 minutes of sitting in urine soaked pants, two nurses showed up, they changed him and assisted him to bed. This was the first time I had ever seen them use the lift on him. It usually sits at the end of the hall against the wall.
I cant even imagine what happens to ones pride and self worth when treated this way. The nurses are so busy that they seem to resent you asking for anything. I have met a few nurses and cna's that seemed to have some compassion left, but they are few and far between. All of my visits were in the daytime hours between two and three, I cant even imagine how much worse it must be at night.
My experience with nursing homes reminds me of the way they portray mental institutions in old black and white movies.
I went there with the hope that things were not as bad as I remembered during Mom's stay. Unfortunatley I was dissappointed to see they were as bad or worse than I remembered from 2011. The problem is obvious, they do not have enough staff to provide the services needed by the residents. The staff that is there is overworked, and it shows in their attitude towards the patients.
SanStone, our passion makes us different, thats what they advertise. The truth is that their passion is the same as almost all the other nursing home groups, lots of money!!
I wonder how Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Christopher Sprenger and Michael Deloach would feel if they had to sit in their own urine for twenty minutes. I wonder how long they would go without a shower because they had no heat in their bathrooms?
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