Washington nursing home linked to 30-plus coronavirus deaths fined $600,000, feds say

A long-term care facility in Washington state that is linked to at least 37 deaths was fined $611,000 after a federal investigation revealed multiple deficiencies in care and reporting, which led to the nation’s first major outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote in a letter to Life Care Center of Kirkland that the facility did not report the outbreak of respiratory illness to authorities for two weeks, failed to give appropriate care to its residents during the outbreak, and did not provide the residents with 24-hour emergency doctor services, The Washington Post reported.

Federal investigators charged the facility a penalty of $13,585 per day from Feb. 12 to March 27 for their deficiencies, The Post said. The fine may be raised or lowered depending on Life Care Center’s compliance, according to The Post.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is also threatening to revoke the facility’s ability to participate in the agency’s program, according to Q13 Fox. Federal inspectors wrote that if Life Care Center “does not correct all deficiencies and return to full compliance by September 16, 2020, then CMS will terminate your facility from participating in the Medicare/Medicaid program,” according to The Post.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked the spread to several staff members who worked with COVID-19 symptoms at multiple care facilities, Time Magazine reported. Public health officials in King County found long-term care facilities in the area did not have an adequate amount of key supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and alcohol-based hand sanitizer when the outbreak began, according to Time.

Over half of patients infected by coronavirus at the Life Care Center were hospitalized and more than 1 in 4 of those patients died, according to Q13 Fox. While several staff members were found to be infected with COVID-19, none of the workers died, Q13 Fox reported.

The CDC report indicated that staff members working asi physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses and nursing assistants were among the workers infected with coronavirus, Time reported. Dr. Jeff Duchin, public health officer for Seattle and King County said infection control measures are loose in nursing homes around the country, making sick, elderly patients especially vulnerable to COVID-19, according to Time.

This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Washington nursing home linked to 30-plus coronavirus deaths fined $600,000, feds say."