On Monday, I told you that Gracedale is currently rated by Medicare and Medicaid at just one star out of five. Staffing there is also rated at one star out of five. This means the home is "much below average," which is in start contrast to 18 other nursing homes within a 10-mile radius. I concluded this poor grade was the result of the staffing crisis. I learned yesterday that I am wrong. The poor rating is actually the result of a failure by the county's IT provider to transmit the data federal officials need to provide a rating. Without this information, Medicare and Medicaid just assumed the worst and gave the facility a one-star rating.
I spoke yesterday with Gracedale Administrator Jennifer Stewart-King and several other county officials about the rating, I was advised that the county was using a software system called to transmit personnel data, but the software is flawed. The county decided to implement a separate system called CHRONOS, This was supposed to be operational last July, but the county's IT department filed to get it up and running as promised. As a result, no data was supplied in a timely manner.
What Stewart-King told me is corroborated by the federal website. Instead of noting the number of hours per resident per day provided by nursing staff, it contains this notation: "Not available." Without the data, the rating defaults to one star.
Gracedale administrators have worked manually and with existing software to provide the data necessary for the next rating, which will be on January 19 or 20. Stewart-King is hoping for two or three stars.
In the meantime, the county did hire a consultant to work on improving its rating for resident care. That is expected to go up as well.
I told Stewart-King that a one-star rating will discourage families from sending loved ones to the home. She responded that she has a 60-person waiting list from other homes and hospitals.
Though Gracedale is licensed for 688 beds, the current census is just 468. This is intentional. Stewart-King told me the census will remain low until staffing is ramped up.
Stewart-King also denied there's any effort to hide problems. She noted that the state Department of Health (DOH) has been at the home 29 times this year. On Sunday, there was a visit to investigate two anonymous complaints, both of which were determined to be unfounded,
"Nothing happens at Gracedale that the DOH doesn't know about," said Stewart-King. "If we had the space, we'd give them an office," added Human Services Director Sue Wandalowski.
27 comments:
Gracedale and IT are screwed up. Sounds like County Council is on to something. Time for McClure to have another hissy fit and hand out more PR money.
Bernie-- the follow up story here is a good thing you have done. most likely you could have left the previous story stand. thanks for digging a little deeper.
Give them Stewart-King's office and get rid of her.
Either way..the county is remiss.FIX IT!
Sure - IT because McClure wants to get rid of the IT department people. How did that go when he house cleaned upon entering office.
What will Stacy Soldo call fake reports into the state about any longer
What will Steve Lynch complain about on his I am fake I care podcast he is starting up
Can't wait to see the next fake thing they are ranting about
#stevelynchisatraitortoUSA
29 visits from DOH isn't a laughing matter. Also blaming IT is simply not taking responsibility and passing blame. Two stars isn't acceptable either.
Thanks for the follow-up and clarification. The waiting list/reduced headcount issue due to staffing shortages seemingly has no quick fix. The labor situation is a universal problem that currently plagues our society. The IT department failure, however, is inexcusable. Someone needs to be fired.
Wow. And you believe this whopper? I thought you were smarter than that, Bernie. It’s clear that Gracedale cannot staff even it’s present census. That said, it is most likely time to downsize again and, more importantly, replace the management.
Sell it already. There are other facilities that provide care to people without means to pay their way. This has become such a political football that has become a constant distraction to the county government. The county has demonstrated it has not provided reliable, consistent service to the residents of Gracedale. How many years has the quality of care been an issue? The county tried and failed, time to give up the reins.
If you blinked, you may have missed the buck being passed. I'm here to learn and appreciate a deeper dive, though. I'm suspicious of this answer. I'm also suspicious of an IT operation that demonstrated its tragic incompetence while trying to get online council meetings to run properly. Regardless, its a very bad look for the McClure administration.
Sorry, can’t believe what King and her mouthpieces spin out. This situation has been covered over by misinformation and semantics before. Let’s see the DOH reports after the supposed IT fix is in. Wanna bet on a two or three star upgrade...
When the next rating comes out on Jan 19-20, you’ll know whether county administrators are truthful. I believe they are bc four of them told me what I reported.
It is certainly true if you don't submit data, either quality indicator mds data or payroll data through the proper procedures you won't get credit and in fact could be in trouble for not doing it. What is confusing is how it is an IT problem as the systems are in place to share this data externally and just takes someone computer knowledgeable to share it. Unless it wasn't prepared to share timely. In reality the star system does have it's problems as a five star home does have good staffing and good inspections but the rest is just being smart enough to know the quality indicator process and assure compliance. It's looking at each part to see how they are really doing rather than the overall star rating to be fair.
I guess we'll find out soon enough where we are at with Gracedale. The IT issue is inexcusable, and I'm a little suspicious they weren't screaming this excuse from the high heavens with all the bad press Gracedale has been getting. All of sudden we are hearing about this..........
9:15 AM
Drip. Drip. Drip. Here they come. Told ya, Bernie....
@9:15 Can you give us a list of the facilities you are saying provide care?
Most private homes have a certain number of medicaid residents.
IT staff and the county's hired hand subcontractor staff members seeing it is like a tri-city family affair.
So, when the rating goes to two stars in late January are you going to exonerate you boy? The guy and his crew come up with an excuse for everything. Slippery and slimy come to mind when Mr. Transparency wants to hide something and people from council.
Chances are you will hear bupkis if the IT fails to fix or they
Can’t come up with a viable excuse or rationale...thought Heffner was the liaison to council for Gracedale, why did she not know this was a situation? ..I will be surprised if the rating moves at all....more lies to the public
Supposedly DOH made them close more units. Of course, staffing numbers improve with the same amount of staff but fewer residents. Wake up, Bernie!
I would visit Veterans pre COVID , and I never witnessed any abuse or avoiding responses to patients . It is a place for people that couldn’t or didn’t prepare for their old age. It seemed to me earlier ,that out out state people that recently moved here escaping NY.And N.J. We’re moving in grandmas I thought to avoid for profit nursing facilities. But I may be incorrectly making this statement. It’s not Country Meadows ,but it serves the public. This facility was Hemstreet’s baby in many ways . Tomorrow I address COVID dangers locally unrelated to Gracedale .
"Supposedly DOH made them close more units. Of course, staffing numbers improve with the same amount of staff but fewer residents. "
Notice how this negative commenter uses the word "supposedly"? She is actually manufacturing a rumor in a conscious effort to make Gracedale administrators look bad. The truth is that every action DOH takes with respect to Gracedale is a matter of public record. There is no record in which DOH orders Gracedale to reduce census. That is lust a lie.
I believe an independent study at Gracedale is necessary. But I am also very mindful that some of its biggest critics are disgruntled workers who quit or were fired. I am well aware of a group of about 20 nursed who not only refused top change the dressing on a bedsore for a month, but lied about it in medical reports. I am also aware that some staffers routinely abuse FMLA.
I am sure there's room for improvement, but the best thing the home could do is keep these liars away. They poison the good workers and ruin morale.
Bernie, you obviously are missing the point on all of this so-called “negativity “ about Gracedale. Take a look at the elopement deficiency from April, 2021, the five deficiencies in one visit in July, 2021, and the most recent two in October, 2021 (all public record as you point out). When problems are ignored (or appear to be), it’s the residents who suffer and those who point them out are not negative but are rather concerned for those residents. Ignoring or making light of these problems as you do just adds to the
the misconception that “everything is fine” at Gracedale. By the way, how do you know the gender of anonymous “posts”? Hmm.
Wow let's put the blame where it belongs this administration is the reason this place is falling to pieces.
"Wow let's put the blame where it belongs this administration is the reason this place is falling to pieces."
Could be. Could also be a few of the negative people who work there. I know a few. People who ignore the dressing on a pressure wound for a month and lie about it in their reports. People who abuse FMLA and screw their fellow workers. People who lie about time worked and screw the taxpayer. That's the point of a study. I want the blame placed where it belongs.
"When problems are ignored (or appear to be), it’s the residents who suffer and those who point them out are not negative but are rather concerned for those residents. Ignoring or making light of these problems as you do just adds to the
the misconception that “everything is fine” at Gracedale. By the way, how do you know the gender of anonymous “posts”? Hmm."
Of course the anonymous complaint system keeps a home under scrutiny, as it should be. Fortunately, nearly all are unsubstantiated.
It is why I allow anonymous comments. Many of the complaints I receive are just as unsubstantiated,.
I do not know the gender of an anonymous and just pick one out. It is preferable to calling someone "it."
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