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| U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., arrives at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021. Joshua Roberts | Pool via AP |
By Mark Weiner
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants the federal government to probe problems in the nursing home industry and start prosecuting owners of nursing homes who put profits ahead of patient care.
Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she read a series of reports by syracuse.com revealing numerous cases of horrific abuse and neglect at the Pontiac Nursing Home in Oswego.
Federal and state regulators this week added the for-profit, 80-bed facility to a list of the nation’s worst nursing homes.
Gillibrand said it’s part of a nationwide problem that needs urgent oversight and a full government review of the industry.
“There needs to be prosecution of the owners of these nursing home facilities who did cut costs, who did cut corners,” the senator said Thursday at an editorial board meeting of syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
“I think the fact that we give a pass to all white-collar crime in this country is a serious problem,” Gillibrand said. “And I’m very concerned about the private equity firms that have owned nursing homes and have cut costs that resulted in the death of people.”
Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said she will use her position on the panel to push for more oversight and accountability of nursing home operators.
In Oswego, Pontiac Nursing Home has been cited for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse, not sending gravely ill residents to the hospital for emergency care and letting water from a leaky roof drip into residents’ rooms for years.
Federal and state officials designated Pontiac as a “special focus facility” because of its “persistent record of poor care,” a state Health Department spokesman said Thursday.
Pontiac is owned by Cosimo Mastropierro of Long Island, who owns three other nursing homes in New York state.
Gillibrand said the coronavirus pandemic has helped expose the structural problems of for-profit nursing homes. She’s particularly concerned about nursing homes owned by private equity funds as investments.
“Those private equity firms, they want profits over anything,” Gillibrand said.
In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., slammed a privately-owned nursing home chain for paying a $5.2 million bonus to its CEO during the coronavirus pandemic. Genesis Healthcare had 2,812 patients die from Covid-19 across its 350 locations, Warren said.
At an Aging Committee hearing Thursday, Gillibrand also brought up the issue of the undercounting of nursing home deaths from Covid-19, an issue in New York and other states.
Gillibrand last month confirmed that federal authorities are investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report Jan. 28 that found the state was undercounting Covid deaths in nursing homes by about 50% during the pandemic. The attorney general’s findings were similar to those of a syracuse.com investigation published independently on the same date.
Cuomo’s top aide later admitted the state intentionally kept the data from the public over fears former President Donald Trump would use the information to launch politically motivated investigations.
The governor faced criticism for his order in March 2020 that required nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients discharged from hospitals.
Cuomo rescinded the order in May. He has said repeatedly that his earlier order was based on federal guidance.
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