CEO bought yacht with funds siphon from nursing homes

[flashl]

Audit Faults CEO For Haven Healthcare Woes

The chief executive of Haven Healthcare took millions from the nursing home chain for personal use, including the purchase of a yacht and three apartment buildings in Connecticut, according to a state audit.
The actions by chief executive Raymond Termini are a major reason for the chain's financial troubles, John F. McCormick, audit manager for the state Department of Social Services, said in the report Wednesday.

“The siphoning of cash from the healthcare facilities is a major reason for the financial troubles,” he said. “I do not see that Haven has the financial viability to continue as a going concern.”

McCormick said in his report to the state that Termini used more than $15 million in assets from nursing home businesses for “personal investments.” Most of the money financed a Nashville, Tenn., record label and paid for a lakefront house in Middlefield.

Read More ...

[kurth]

1. "Transferred $5 million in corporate assets into the checking account of his wife

... One home ran out of heating oil and others lack supplies such as juice and bandages."

[flashl]

2. Stripping nursing homes of their assets is the NEW growth trend

[Trailrider1951]

3. Gawd, this shit makes me sick to my stomach

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:


Single payer health care NOW!!!

[Initech]

4. See, this is the kind of fucked-up thing where...

If I worked for a company that had a piece of shit CEO like this, I would get my co-workers to rise-up as one and throw a torches-and-picthforks-style revolution to overthrow them. But thankfully I work for a small business that isn't publically traded so I dont have to worry about it.

[lonestarnot]

5. Wow just imagine what they can do when we're all warehoused.

[flashl]

7. We seem to be unable to defend and protect children or elderly.

[lonestarnot]

8. or the Constitution, the law, the environment, animals, the economy, jobs, imports, and frogs.

[Sugar Smack]

6. Prosecute to the fullest extent. I'm apoplectic right now...

:grr: :nuke:

[emilyg]

9. Hope he goes to hell. Bastard.

[flashl]

17. Is this the type of hell you were expecting?

http://gobnf.org/v/bnf/wog_home.mov

[flashl]

10. At Many Homes, More Profit and Less Nursing

September 23, 2007

Analyzing the Data

For this article, The New York Times analyzed trends at nursing homes purchased by private investment groups by examining data available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Times examined more than 1,200 nursing homes purchased by large private investment groups since 2000, and more than 14,000 other homes. The analysis compared investor-owned homes against national averages in multiple categories, including complaints received by regulators, health and safety violations cited by regulators, fines levied by state and federal authorities, the performance of homes as reported in a national database known as the Minimum Data Set Repository and the performance of homes as reported in the Online Survey, Certification and Reporting database.

Habana Health Care Center, a 150-bed nursing home in Tampa, Fla., was struggling when a group of large private investment firms purchased it and 48 other nursing homes in 2002.

The facility’s managers quickly cut costs. Within months, the number of clinical registered nurses at the home was half what it had been a year earlier, records collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate. Budgets for nursing supplies, resident activities and other services also fell, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration.

The investors and operators were soon earning millions of dollars a year from their 49 homes.

Residents fared less well. Over three years, 15 at Habana died from what their families contend was negligent care in lawsuits filed in state court. Regulators repeatedly warned the home that staff levels were below mandatory minimums. When regulators visited, they found malfunctioning fire doors, unhygienic kitchens and a resident using a leg brace that was broken.

“They’ve created a hellhole,” said Vivian Hewitt, who sued Habana in 2004 when her mother died after a large bedsore became infected by feces.

Habana is one of thousands of nursing homes across the nation that large Wall Street investment companies have bought or agreed to acquire in recent years.

Those investors include prominent private equity firms like Warburg Pincus and the Carlyle Group, better known for buying companies like Dunkin’ Donuts.

As such investors have acquired nursing homes, they have often reduced costs, increased profits and quickly resold facilities for significant gains.

more

[knitter4democracy]

11. Is he the same guy my MIL worked for?

She managed a nursing home for a few years. She got a scary place up to perfect scores on state evals, moved it to a new facility, kept the perfect evaluations, kept her nurses and other staff happy, was on-call all the time, and he fired her for making the home too expensive.

Too many have gone into running nursing homes to make money, not to care for people. Ticks off my in-laws something fierce.

[AnneD]

18. It's not just embezzelment ...

it's elder abuse. I'd like to see one of these rat bastard go to prison with criminal charges of abuse, neglect and death. I'm with your MIL on this.:hi:

Hey, I don't know what has possesed me but I have started knitting-small stuff for my daughter and adopted niece (scarves). I want to graduat to caps and booties for premies and newbies. It's all your fault.:wags finger:

[knitter4democracy]

22. I'll take that fault.

:D

A great place for beginning knitters is Knitty.com and their Coffeeshop (the message board). You can look up answers to questions and get all sorts of ideas. Great yarn sites are KnitPicks.com and Elann.com and, for sale stuff, yarn.com (Webs). If you need any help, though, just PM me. :)

As for the topic, I know that some owners have been prosecuted in Michigan and have gone to jail. Not having bandages is abuse, and those guys need to rot.

[AnneD]

24. Thanks for the info....

I learned the very basics when I was a child (amazing what one remembers). I am just starting back with the simple stuff for now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Son of a bitch!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Isn't this plain old embezzling? Shouldn't this guy be charged/arrested/jailed?

[flashl]

14. Think the Soprano admins antics are off-the-chain ...

Medicare fraud and nursing home stripping is SO common that that thieves are given opportunity to "forfeit" their ill gotten gains in the hundreds of millions.

[AnneD]

15. I have worked on and off

at LTC (long term care) facilities for a number of years now. I wish I could say this was an exception but it is not. These Bastard CEO....and they are all pretty much rat bastards, squeeze money by overworking and underpaying the Nurses, barely paying the aides (CNAs) scrimping on supplies, doing minimal maintenance, make sweetheart deals with sorry pharmacies that can't do get meds to you in a timely manner when the patient runs out, and charging medicare as much as they can.

Let me give you a few numbers of the last place I worked at.....
1) I had 32-34 pts
2) During the day shift I had 2 med passes, plus before meal blood sugar checks.
3) Each pt had 8-10 meds in the morning (that had to be removed from a blister pack-tough on wrists and thumb) and most required crushing, and 4-5 crushed meds at lunch. Oh and don't forget to give those diabetics (4-5) their insulin before their meals. The crushed meds tasted nasty and many confused pts and to be coaxed and those with strokes had to be worked with to help the swallow meds. Oh, 95% of the meds were specified to be given at the same times. Three were on tube feeding which meant you had to feed them and flush their gastric tubes.
4) I had to do breathing treatment on 4 pts 2 times a day and wound care or skin care on anywhere from 5-10 (my shift's portion).

I haven't even touch the amount of documentation in normal circumstances (which took 1-2 hours) or the additional work when a resident fell or took a turn for the worst. And then there was those that were actively dieing. If there was no family present, I would have to juggle the aides and pt load so that an aide could be with that pt as much as possible-I refused to let pts die alone.

They once came down with new staffing orders and on top of shorting us staff, they didn't give the Nurses keys to the supply room (the head janitor that didn't even work the weekend was given the key-AND THAT ROOM HAD OUR EMERGENCY SUPPLIES). They were so worried that we might more supplies than we were suppose to that they locked us out. The whole time this was going the CEO was on trial for using medicare/Medicaid funds to buy art work for the Corporate Office headquarters.

I did some calculating and figured that I had less than three minutes per pt to do all of the above duties AND CHART. Armed with my figures-I went in and talked with the director. When I told her that I had 2:45 minutes to do those above mentioned duties she said-well-not all of patients take 2:45 to give care. True, I shot back-they take longer. And them I went off about locking up the nursing supplies. She said they were worried about theft. I slapped down a copy of the article of the CEO's Federal trial on theft and fraud and told her they were focusing on the wrong thief.

After that, we did get a little help, but not enough that we really needed. I finally left in frustration and haven't gone back to LTC. I really enjoy working with the elderly and miss it greatly. Where else can I, with my wrinkles and grey hair be referred to as a youngster.;)

We can do better by our elderly and need to start developing strategies to cope because this won't go away.

[flashl]

16. I am glad to hear you care and commend you for your efforts.

[AnneD]

19. Most folks that work there do the best they can....

with what they have. I loved my residents, even the ornry ones (esp the ornry ones). It was like being around elderly kids. I guess since I am a School Nurse at an elementary school, and these folks were going through their second childhood-I fit right in.

My daughter referred to the home as her 91 grandparents and frequently came to work with me. She did a Girl Scout project there and got her troop involved. She won a Silver Award for that and we had a great time.

[flashl]

20. Thats the type of connection we need from our communities

Its the being to 'busy' life styles that leaves the elders to the predators. I live in an area that is pro-active when it comes to elder needs.

[knitter4democracy]

23. I. Am. Livid.

Locked your emergency supplies up?!?!?! Shortstaffed you that badly?!?!?!?! :mad:

Wrong, wrong, wrong. All of it. Just plain wrong.

I teach knitting once a week at the adult day care facility in town, and it's really nice, thank goodness. The nurses and aids there are happy, the clients do really well, and it's a great thing. I wish everyone had this place and that everyone could afford it.

[AnneD]

25. Can you believe it....

Had to call the janitor to get some suction set up on a new admit.:nuke: I felt bad about leaving, but it came down to keeping my license and livelihood. They were so amazed that they started getting redflagged....well DUH. Sad, sad, sad.....These folks deserve more. I can only hope that these 'ceo's' live like this when they are old and infirmed.

[knitter4democracy]

27. For the nursing homes Hubby covers, a nurse can't send a resident to the ER.

They call Hubby. He has to approve it. How much does that slow down treating a stroke or heart attack? Enough. It ticks him off--the nurses are more than qualified to make the decision, but still they have to call him.

I agree. The owners and CEOs need to get put in those "homes" and stay there until they die (which, depending on the nurse, might not take as long as you'd think--neglect does terrible things ;) ).

[AnneD]

33. Can the Nurse pronounce....

time of death. We could in NM and TX.

I'd want the CEO's to last a long,long time;)

[knitter4democracy]

34. I think so. You know, I'm not sure.

They might have to call it in so Hubby can. Which is just plain ridiculous.

Oh, and yes, I guess it would be better for them to last a long while. Then they could live with the consequences of locked supply cabinets, no bandages, and low staffing.

[DemoTex]

21. Reminds me of a billboard ..

[flashl]

26. The Costs of Urinary Incontinence in Nursing Homes

Disposable diapers reduce bed changes to one to two per 24-hour period

I understand the necessity of skin care, do anyone believe that one depend a day is cost efficent?

[knitter4democracy]

28. *shudder* That's horrible!

So, they'd rather deal with the burns and all later? Disgusting.

[flashl]

29. The government reduced payment the home will not pick-up additional costs.

[knitter4democracy]

30. I wonder how many family members even know that.

Seriously. So many families are working two and three jobs and can't keep track of their loved ones every day and find out what's happening to them. That's awful!!!

[flashl]

31. The article posted is old. There was a recent story about same on NPR.

[Solar_Power]

32. All CEOs are thiefs