A day after New Jersey went to court seeking to take control of one of the state’s worst nursing homes, federal regulators unexpectedly moved to stop the long-troubled Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center in Andover from receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding.
The decision, which could mean the death knell for the facility, was outlined in a 3-page notice to the state and others that was obtained by NJ Advance Media.
The order, which can be appealed, is effective June 25 — months earlier than the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had threatened in March, following a growing list of serious health and safety violations that officials claimed had threatened the lives of the hundreds of residents living there.
The federal funding cutoff would effectively serve to shut down the facility, which is heavily dependent on federal and state reimbursement.
The nursing home’s administrator and facility’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a statement said repeated surveys documented the facility’s failure to comply with several federal requirements, including numerous non-compliance deficiencies that caused or were likely to cause “serious injury, harm, impairment, or death to residents.”
It said multiple serious infection control deficiencies at Woodland have resulted in 30 resident deaths since October 2021 due to COVID-19, as well as deficiencies for failure to administer “urgent medication” to a resident, which led to the subsequent hospitalization and death of the individual.
“Despite several opportunities to address their non-compliance, Woodland has not demonstrated it can ensure the health, safety, and well-being of its residents,” the agency said.
In the notice to Woodland, Heather A. Lang, a director for the agency’s Northeast Division, said surveys and visits between February and May showed “continued non-compliance” by the nursing home’s operators.
“We have determined that Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center no longer meets the requirements for participation as a skilled nursing facility in the Medicare program,” she wrote. “CMS will involuntarily terminate your Medicare provider agreement based on the failure to return to substantial compliance with federal participation requirements for nursing homes.”
Lang said the Medicare/Medicaid program will not make payment for covered services furnished to residents admitted to the facility after June 25.
U.S. Rep. Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., who has repeatedly pushed for the facility — which is part of his district — to be shut down, was heartened by the decision.
“After I sounded the alarm earlier this year and pushed for accountability, I’m glad to see that this facility will be closing its doors. I refuse to stand by while Jersey seniors are put at risk,” he said. ”Families should have confidence that older relatives and veterans will be well cared for in their later years, whether residing in private or state-run long-term care facilities.”
State health officials said the notice by CMS was consistent with its notice to the facility earlier this year about the potential for decertification. The federal agency had then given Woodland’s owners until August 15 to make major changes or face a termination of its Medicare and Medicaid provider agreement.
“The goal of the Department of Health is to maintain the health, safety and dignity of the residents of Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center,” said spokeswoman Donna Leusner, who noted that Atlantic Health System, appointed by the state earlier this year as a monitor — tasked with conducting an assessment of the facilities business practices, operations, and infrastructure — remains in place at the facility.
“In addition to the monitor, there is a daily presence by the Department of Health to ensure the health, safety and dignity of the residents,” she added, voicing the appreciation of the department for the care that the staff of the facility has continued to provide “during this period of transition.”
One of the largest nursing homes in the state, Woodland in rural Sussex County sparked nationwide media coverage and scrutiny by federal and state representatives and regulators after police discovered 17 bodies in a temporary morgue at the nursing home on an Easter weekend in April 2020.
Once known as the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, the facility changed its name to Woodland Behavioral after the scandal. It owned by Alliance Healthcare Holdings of Lakewood, whose officers include CEO Chaim “Mutty” Scheinbaum and Louis Schwartz — the son of Joseph Schwartz.
The elder Schwartz was charged in January in a multi-million dollar federal tax fraud scheme in connection with Skyline Healthcare, his failed nursing home chain that had sought to purchase Woodland when it was still known as Andover Subacute.
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In February, the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller named Woodland one of the 15 worst long-term care facilities in New Jersey. But a health inspection that same month led to renewed scrutiny of the nursing home after inspectors found it had failed to prevent several major issues of abuse and neglect, issuing a declaration of “imminent jeopardy” that underscored the potential impact on the health and safety of residents.
Among the details of that inspection report included the failure to make any effort to resuscitate a 55-year-old resident found in cardiac arrest and not breathing on New Year’s Day. In a separate incident, a nursing aide reportedly left a resident soiled in feces for ten hours overnight. And during a two-week period from late December into January, there were never enough certified nurse aides on duty to care for its residents. In fact, at times, the nursing home operated with only half the staff required under state mandates.
Those staffing problems have not gone away. NJ Advance Media reported this month that Woodland, along with 6 out of 10 New Jersey nursing homes, have failed to maintain adequate staffing levels.
The state, in seeking the appointment of a receiver, described in its complaint filed in Superior Court in Sussex County on Tuesday a continued horror show. It found the issues at Woodland have only gotten worse in recent months, despite the ongoing oversight by the monitor the Department of Health put in place.
Last month, for example, a resident with a feeding tube was transferred to a hospital and found to have a bowel impaction. That had led to serious medical issues, determined surveyors, who said the tube feeding had nowhere to go due to the blocked colon — other than back up through the oral cavity and down to the lungs — causing aspiration pneumonia.
Another hospitalized Woodland resident with a similar blockage was never properly assessed, leading to the possibility of a perforated colon, sepsis, and death. And inspectors said the nursing home’s COVID precautions were grossly inadequate, with staff members failing to wear necessary personal protective equipment or isolate those who were infected with the virus. They said the facility also did not have proper infection control plans.
Woodland, meanwhile, is already swimming in red ink. State officials in their court filing said the nursing facility appeared to be “in acute financial distress or at risk of filing for bankruptcy protection.”
They noted the facility already had a negative cash flow and limited borrowing capacity.
As of January 31, Woodland’s balance sheet showed total assets of approximately $15.8 million and total liabilities of approximately $19.8 million, according to the state, expressing doubt as to the nursing home’s ability to pay its debts as they become due.
The state health department suspended new admissions to Woodland in February. Since then, its population has dropped from about 450 residents to the 360 now living there today.
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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL