AZ nursing home board still not ready to discipline Granite Creek official azcentral.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from azcentral.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nursing home board members quiet after Republic investigation led Ducey to disband group Caitlin McGlade and Anne Ryman, Arizona Republic
Kay Vetere talks about her husband who died of COVID-19 at Granite Creek Nursing Home
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Members of Arizona s nursing home board appeared to be in denial during their first meeting since Gov. Doug Ducey announced he was shutting down their organization for failing to protect residents.
The seven members said next to nothing about the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1282, which would have reauthorized the board until 2029. They just carried on with business as usual for nearly four hours Monday, proceeding to launch 10 new investigations relating to assisted living facilities and making plans with one manager for a year in the future.
A spokesperson for ADHS released the following statement to 12 News regarding the citation: ADHS is following Arizona state law, which sets a limit on civil money penalties at $500 per violation per day. However, ADHS penalties can and do lead to further enhanced enforcement by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which contracts with ADHS to inspect long-term care facilities and has much greater ability under federal law to impose monetary penalties.
“A $500 fine is pennies on the dollar for the nursing home. It’s almost negligible and really it’s laughable, Lee said.
Following Granite Creek s outbreak, the $500 fine was offset in a big way. The facility was given federal bonus payments in September, October, November and December totaling $187,969.
Gov. Doug Ducey is shuttering the board responsible for licensing nursing home administrators after an Arizona Republic investigation revealed its members approved a felon who forced employees to work while sick with COVID-19.
Nine families are now suing the Prescott nursing home. Almost all the suits are for wrongful death.
Kathy Smith, who lost her husband after a brief stay at Granite Creek, was happy to hear that the board will be disbanded.
“They weren’t doing anything except drawing a wage,” she said.
Dana Kennedy, AARP’s Arizona Director, said a major problem with the board was that it was made up of nursing home administrators charged with regulating their own kind. She said they “had a blank check.”