Three Charlotte-area nursing homes make NC most-troubled list. One company owns them all.
Four North Carolina nursing homes have recently earned a dubious distinction: They’ve been added to the federal government’s list of worst-performing nursing homes in North Carolina.
Three of the homes — Accordius Health at Concord, Accordius Health at Statesville and the Citadel Mooresville — are located in the Charlotte area. The fourth, Accordius Health at Creekside Care, is in the eastern North Carolina town of Ahoskie.
All are owned by the for-profit Portopiccolo Group, a New Jersey based investment company that has come under increasing scrutiny because of health and safety violations at its facilities.
Like other facilities on the federal government’s list of “special focus” candidates, the four nursing homes have shown a pattern of serious violations. Another Portopiccolo home — the Citadel Salisbury — has for nearly two years been on a related list of facilities that have been earmarked for more frequent regulatory inspections.
That home could soon lose its Medicare and Medicaid funding because of repeated health and safety violations. As a result, the large majority of the 85 residents there will likely have to move.
Only a small fraction of nursing homes make it on to the watch lists. A dozen of North Carolina’s 425 nursing homes — and about 500 nationwide — are now included.
All the North Carolina nursing homes are for-profits. But Portopiccolo has far more North Carolina nursing homes on the lists than any other owner. One advocate for nursing home residents responded to that news with concern.
“When we’re giving consideration to who’s getting licenses in our state and other states, that kind of track record needs to be considered,” said Bill Lamb, a board member at Friends of Residents in Long Term Care, a North Carolina group that advocates for nursing homes residents. “I think that corporation has enough of a history that it should give us all pause.”
Officials for Portopiccolo declined to comment for this story.
The watch lists are reserved for nursing homes with histories of serious quality problems, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. State regulators examine the compliance histories of nursing homes over several years in order to recommend which ones should get listed.
Special-focus facilities remain in the program until they improve enough to be removed, or — in rare instances — until the government terminates their Medicare or Medicaid funding.
“Left Alone,” a recent Charlotte Observer investigation, found that staff shortages inside North Carolina nursing homes have reached a crisis point — a trend that endangers thousands of residents.
The investigation also found that for-profit companies like Portopiccolo lag nonprofits on staffing and overall performance.
‘Just not enough of us’
Beginning in 2016, Portopiccolo bought about three dozen nursing homes in North Carolina. Today, the overwhelming majority of those homes have earned just one or two stars for staffing and overall performance on the federal government’s five-star rating system.
Among the violations found at the Portopiccolo homes that were recently added to the watch list:
- At the Citadel Mooresville, one resident died on Oct. 20, after the nursing home failed to provide the necessary respiratory care, according to a state inspection report. The resident had been admitted to the facility two days earlier, with hospital discharge orders that he use a mechanical ventilator as needed. But the nursing home didn’t set up the ventilator until the following evening and failed to check if the resident was getting enough oxygen, inspectors found.
- Another resident at the same nursing home called for help one afternoon in December because her adult diaper was wet with urine. A nurse aide entered the room and said she would be right back. But it was nearly six hours before the nurse aide returned to change the diaper, inspectors found. The aide told inspectors she was the only one at the nursing home to care for the more than 50 residents on two hallways that day. As a result of insufficient staffing, two residents at the facility didn’t receive incontinence care, and one was not given care for a wound, inspectors found.
- At Accordius Health of Concord, a state inspection conducted in late January found more than a dozen violations, one of which stemmed from an accident that left a female resident with three leg fractures. The woman fell from a shower gurney because the side rails had not been properly secured, the inspectors found. The nursing home said it subsequently discarded the malfunctioning gurney and trained staff how to safely transport residents who need help showering.
- At Accordius Health at Statesville, a February inspection found that the staff failed to identify and properly treat one resident’s pressure ulcer until the wound became deep. In the case of another resident there, inspectors found that the nursing home didn’t follow a doctor’s order for obtaining a test used to detect a disorder that causes excessive clotting. The resident later had to undergo surgery to remove a pool of clotted blood. Regulators found the facility’s failures put residents in “immediate jeopardy.” The nursing home said it subsequently addressed the concerns by assessing all residents to identify and treat those at risk of developing pressure wounds. The facility said it also took steps to ensure the required medical tests were performed.
In a federal class action lawsuit pending against the Citadel Salisbury, the troubled Portopiccolo home in Rowan County, families of two residents allege that “systematic understaffing” led to residents frequently not receiving medications, showers and medical attention.
Some days at the home, just three nurse aides were on duty to care for the more than 70 residents, according to the lawsuit, filed by the Wallace and Graham law firm last year.
In a court filing, Portopiccolo called the lawsuit’s claim of understaffing “meritless,” saying the nursing home mistakenly under-reported the hours worked by agency nurses.
Other NC nursing homes on Special Focus lists:
▪ Saturn Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Charlotte
▪ Peak Resources, in Shelby
▪ Westwood Health and Rehabilitation Center, in Archdale
▪ Woodland Hill Center, in Asheboro
▪ Summerstone Health and Rehabilitation Center, in Kernersville
▪ Alamance Health Care Center, in Burlington
▪ Pruitt Health-Trent, in New Bern
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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