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Potato pancakes? Now that’s kosher FOOD, A9-10
DUKES DOMINATE ON HOME FLOOR BOYS HOOPS, B1
dailyGAZETTE Wednesday, December 17, 2014
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
CIA REPORT
INVESTIGATIVE SERIES | NURSING HOMES IN THE SAUK VALLEY
Cited, but not fined?
Rep calls findings partisan politics Kinzinger: Report of torture ‘a stain on our nation’ BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
A resident works on a puzzle in a common area at Heritage Square in Dixon. While those living at the nursing home can choose their activities, facilities in the region and statewide often are cited for failing to provide activities or food that meet the residents’ preferences.
BY MATT MENCARINI • mmencarini@saukvalley.com • 800-798-4085, ext. 5529
Violations cost local facilities $200K since ’11
T
wo state inspections dated Sept. 14, 2012, cited Dixon Rehabilitation & Health Care Center for 14 violations. They included failure to provide proper fluid plans; staff using cellphones while giving personal care; failure to have a proper activity program; and failure to provide assistance to residents. None of the violations reached a severe level, but they did include a resident with an unplanned, 16-pound weight loss over the course of 6 months. The violations were like the majority of violations cited in state and federal surveys, both in scope and penalty. Since early 2011, Sauk Valley nursing homes have been fined nearly $200,000 by the state or federal government for violations. The complaint and recertification surveys for all 20 nursing homes are done several times each year, and almost all return violations, many similar to those at the Dixon facility. In March 2012, the man noted in the Dixon Rehabilitation violation weighed 170 pounds; by September 2012, he was down to 154, a loss of nearly 10 percent. While eating lunch at a table on Sept. 11, 2012, he was in an unlocked wheelchair, sitting with two other residents and a staff member. His chin was about 4 inches from his plate, according to the government surveyor who was observing, and he kept moving farther and farther from the table, forcing him to extend his arm to reach his food. A one point, the man thought his clothing protector was food and tried to put a fork in it. FINES CONTINUED ON A5
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 161 ISSUE 7
In Saturday’s edition
A sorry state Regulating nursing homes in Illinois and the Sauk Valley
About the series About 25 percent of the nursing homes in Illinois have been cited for at least one severe deficiency violation since 2012, but in the Sauk Valley, that rate increases to 65 percent. That was among the findings Sauk Valley Media reporter Matt Mencarini found during a 6-month review of nearly 4,000 pages of documents – including inspection reports, enforcement letters, and plans of correction – and nearly 30 hours of interviews with nursing home administrators, industry experts, nursing home advocates and family members of nursing home residents. During this week, and occasionally thereafter, Mencarini will report on the state of nursing homes and the regulatory processes in the Sauk Valley and Illinois.
Advocates for better care find troubling the constant and repeated violations for building and fire codes, and the less-severe violations that are cited without penalties ever being imposed on nursing homes in the Sauk Valley. In a nursing home, it’s the CNAs who have the most hands-on interaction with residents, yet they’re often the lowest-paid medical staffers. Depending on their level of experience, education and the shift being worked, the starting pay for a CNA in the Sauk Valley ranges between $8.75 to $10.50 an hour, according to interviews with nursing home administrators. The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is often rushed. That’s especially problematic in the Sauk Valley, where options are more limited.
CIA CONTINUED ON A3
HEALTH CARE
Hospitals try to contain flu with policies CGH limits visitors; Dixon schools hit hard
Read the entire series
Go to saukvalley.com and click on the link for the “A Sorry State” investigative series to read stories that were published in the Saturday, Dec. 13, and today’s editions.
BY JERMAINE PIGEE jpigee@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5525
Key findings in today’s report Often, fines for nursing homes are reduced after they are initially assessed. A review of CMS enforcement letters between Jan. 1, 2011, and Oct. 16, 2014, found at least three instances when a local nursing home chose an informal dispute resolution and had some of the imposed penalties removed. Additionally, some penalties were removed in at least 16 instances after revisits or in-office reviews of documentation.
The state is about 3 months behind in its Medicaid reimbursements, which is a delay nursing home administrators say is better than what it has been. However, area elected officials expect that delay period to increase. The average daily payment for Medicaid reimbursements for nursing home residents in the state was $144.35 in July. Most Sauk Valley nursing homes were below that mark; two had higher per diems.
Inside Story: Administrators say delayed Medicaid payments pose biggest challenge in running their facilities. Page A5
INDEX
ABBY ................. A11 COMICS ...............B5 CROSSWORD....B11
FOOD ................... A7 LIFESTYLE ......... A11 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
Congressman Adam Kinzinger said the release of a CIA interrogation report this month fell into the category of partisan politics. The report, released Dec. 3, details torture practices the CIA used after 9/11 and the agency’s efforts to mislead Congress and the White House, among other revelations. K i n z i n g e r , Adam Kinzinger Read about R-Channahon, represents the Republican rep’s visit to Allied state’s 16th Congressional Locke Industries District, which in Dixon on A3 includes Lee and Bureau counties. He toured the Allied Locke Industries facility south of Dixon on Tuesday morning and addressed the report afterward. “It was a partisan hit on the brave people that protect our country,” he said.
STERLING – Want some health advice? Get a flu shot. “We just ordered more flu shots from the state because we have seen so many cases,” said Beth Fiorini, Whiteside County’s public health administrator said. “The worst of the flu season is yet to come. We haven’t seen anything yet.” Signs of flu season were reported throughout the Sauk Valley on Tuesday.
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FLU CONTINUED ON A4
I will not turn anyone away. Beth Fiorini, Whiteside County public health administrator on making flu shots available
Today’s weather High 32. Low 20. More on A3.
Far-sighted
Ogle County OKs 50-year plan, A8.
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