INVESTIGATION: RI Nursing Home Rankings Fail to Disclose Crimes and Serious Violations

INVESTIGATION: RI Nursing Home Rankings Fail to Disclose Crimes and Serious Violations

 

The process is a nightmare for a family trying to investigate the quality of nursing homes in Rhode Island.

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Popular rankings can be incomplete at best and misleading at worst.

U.S. News and World Report ranks nursing homes across the country. According to U.S. News, Cedar Crest Nursing Centre in Cranston is one of six top facilities in Rhode Island. 

“There are 75 nursing homes in Rhode Island. Of these, 6 received an overall rating of 5 out of 5,” reported U.S. News about Cedar Crest which has recently been rebranded “The Cedars.”

 

 

But while U.S. News gives The Cedars a perfect ranking, the analysis does not include federal information about deficiencies — some very serious and life-threatening — nor does the ranking take into account or report how "The Cedars" has been fined by federal regulators.

Federal data shows that The Cedars has had numerous violations — 26, including three deemed “serious,” and The Cedars has been fined more than $103,000.

Serious deficiencies are those that cause immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety.  The data is derived from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and reported by ProPublica.

The administration of The Cedars refused to respond to questions.

GoLocal emailed and called The Cedars’ top administrator, Richard Catallozzi — but he refused to respond to questions.

In Rhode Island, 16 nursing homes have been fined more than $100,000 by federal regulators in just the past four years. 

 

The Rhode Island Department of Health Data Search Tool Is Flawed

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has a search tool for the public that is meant to disclose violations linked to facilities and licensed healthcare professionals.

That nursing home tool is supposed to allow the public to “find disciplinary actions and orders."

"Violations against individual and facility licenses are posted here. Information includes the date of the action/order and the full text of the decision," according to RIDOH. 

Only there are a number of problems with the RIDOH tool.

It only includes state enforcement actions and does not include federal violations.

Moreover, it is neither up-to-date, nor comprehensive, nor does it allow consumers to search a specific home and find out about the disciplinary action that the state has taken against administrators or employees.

As an example, GoLocal unveiled in recent weeks that the Grace Barker nursing home in Warren has had two significant enforcement actions by RIDOH.

First, the administrator of Grace Barker, Benjamin Lescault, was reprimanded for operating the facility utilizing nine unlicensed staff members.

In the enforcement action, RIDOH wrote, “On January 29, 2024, the Board reviewed the allegation and relevant evidence, including your response to the complaint. RIDOH, after review, and in conjunction with a recommendation by the Board, determined that the Respondent failed to conform to minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing practice of nursing home administration by their actions."

And, this week, GoLocal unveiled that at the same facility, there were two disturbing incidents of alleged sexual assaults against elderly women — one suffering from cognitive disease.

When searching Grace Barker in the RIDOH database for violations — the site delivers a response of “No Disciplinary Actions.”

Joseph Wendelken, the spokesperson for RIDOH, in response to questions about the functionality of the agency’s tool, told GoLocal in an email, “Any disciplinary action taken against any licensee within the last 10 years is posted online under that person’s name. There is a lot of turnover at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The system is set up to allow you to know about any actions against a licensee regardless of where they are working, and even if they are no longer working.”

Warren police arrested nursing assistant Erick Sajche Meza on July 15 on two second-degree sexual assault charges.

But, after Warren Police arrested Meza and RIDOH had taken enforcement against his license.

Despite RIDOH having suspended Meza's license as a nursing assistant, the agency tool reports "No Disciplinary Actions."

 

This is an ongoing GoLocal investigation into Rhode Island's nursing homes.