President Trump in late December commuted the sentence of Philip Esformes, the former skilled nursing facility owner who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a case that the federal government...
Esformes receives $44M penalty to go with jail time
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 05, 2020
After three years, the case of former long-term care mogul Philip Esformes has ended with a financial penalty that matches the personal level of enrichment gained in a massive fraud scheme.
Expert: DOJ may ramp up enforcement
By
Danielle Brown
May 01, 2020
Providers shouldn’t assume that federal authorities will slow down enforcement efforts in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, they should expect authorities to “step up” efforts —...
Labor board handcuffs unions’ lobbying
By
Marty Stempniak
Apr 04, 2019
Healthcare unions have been dealt a defeat with the National Labor Relations Board ruling that nonmembers cannot be forced to pay for labor groups’ lobbying fees.
Feds seize medical supplies in price gouging crackdown
By
Liza Berger
May 01, 2020
The Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last month said they confiscated more than half a million medical supplies from price gougers and began distributing them to healthcare...
Rulings continue to resist providers’ arbitration efforts
By
Kimberly Marselas
Dec 05, 2019
A series of arbitration rulings this fall set skilled nursing providers back on their heels.
Ask The Legal Expert: Second chances on prospective employee drug tests?
By
John Durso
Nov 02, 2018
A prospective employee’s background drug test came back positive and he staunchly disputes the results. We need all the workers we can get. Under what grounds should/could we retest him? Do we owe him...
Court blocks effort to put an RN on every surveyor team
By
Kimberly Marselas
Nov 14, 2019
Thirty-one nursing homes that want a registered nurse to be on all survey teams had their case against the government dismissed recently, with a federal judge ruling they must exhaust administrative appeals...
Avoid performing CPR on a dead resident, earn an F-tag
By
Marty Stempniak
Oct 22, 2018
A Minnesota nursing home has been cited for neglect after four nurses failed to perform CPR on a resident, even though the resident appeared to have been dead for several hours.
Arizona pushed to report facility cases
By
Liza Berger
Jun 01, 2020
A group of Arizona news organizations filed a special action in the Maricopa County Superior Court in May in a move to force the Arizona Department of Health Services to release information about coronavirus...