For-Profit Elder Care Hospitals Subject of Investigation
March 11, 2010.
By Gordon Gibb
Tulsa, OK
Last month the New York Times published an in-depth exposé of elder abuse at many US care facilities. The story prompted the Senate Finance Committee to launch an investigation into patient deaths and allegations of substandard treatment.
According to the New York Times report, the Senate investigation will focus on Select Medical Corporation, which operates 89 long-term for-profit care hospitals across the US and boasts more facilities than any other company.The Times detailed an incident that allegedly occurred at a Select facility in Kansas, in which a dying patient's heart alarm sounded for more than an hour before help arrived. By the time nursing staff finally responded, the patient had been in distress for 77 minutes.
On March 8, Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana, the committee’s chairman) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the panel's senior Republican, demanded that Select provide more information about the allegations. Select Medical indicates it would cooperate fully with the inquiry, although a spokeswoman claimed that Select viewed the Times article as misleading and inaccurate.
Other complaints lodged against Select and subject to investigation come from former employees of the company, who have detailed a discharge policy that seems to put profit ahead of patient well-being.
Under Medicare rules, hospitals that treat patients for 25 days or longer earn higher Medicare payments. Former Select employees allege that the company presses to keep patients for 25 days, then tries to discharge them almost immediately in an effort to maximize profitability. At some Select hospitals, the New York Times reported, the twenty-fifth day is known as the "magic day."
Abridged
SOURCE: Lawyers and Settlements
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