Plaintiff patient estate is represented by Mr. Waterman against the Defendant nursing home in the patient fall wrongful death medical malpractice case of Hubbard A. Davis, Executor of the Estate of James Clifton Davis, Jr., Deceased, v. Virginia Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Lancashire Convalescent Center, No. CL700CL1502056B-04 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. Financial analysis of VHSI’s self-reported cost figures indicates its Lancashire nursing home chronically being staffed substantially below levels expected by the federal government [“CMS”] in 2013.
For example, for 2013 (the year of the VHSI resident fall/death at issue in Davis), CMS expected 61-63 minutes of RN time per resident per day, but VHSI reported only 31-36 minutes of RN time/resident/day for the 2 weeks before its annual inspection – and, more importantly, only 16+ minutes of RN time/resident/day for the year as a whole. Also for 2013, CMS expected 250-251 minutes of total RN/LPN/Aide time per resident per day, but again VHSI report only 195-200 minutes of total RN/LPN/Aide time/resident/day.
Since CMS uses the 2-week pre-inspection period for RN time/patient as a proxy for VHSI’s “staffing,” Lancashire received a 3 of 5 as its star rating for 2013. However, if VHSI’s more representative year-long self-reporting were used for its 2013 star rating, it would have received only a 1 of 5, i.e., the lowest possible score on the star scale.
Moreover, by not staffing fully at CMS-expected levels, VHSI at Lancashire alone saved an estimated $1,219,512.00 in 2013. Meanwhile in 2013, VHSI paid approximately $890,426.00 to “related parties,” including estimated excess payments of $87,807.00; plus claimed net profit of at least $427,900.00.
Notably, the apparent understaffing by VHSI at Lancashire in 2013 re Davis is substantially similar to – yet worse than – VHSI’s apparent understaffing at Walter Reed re Cherrie/Harvey in 2012. Compare Mr. Waterman’s 10/28/16 blog for that companion Cherrie/Harvey patient fall wrongful death case for medical malpractice against VHSI.
