Note from staff: This lawsuit, brought by the now director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, not only alleges problems with the discharge process, it alleges that SNFs submitted false data to Five-Star, specifically nurse staffing data.

Attorney General Becerra Sues Nursing Home Chain for Misrepresenting its Quality of Care and Putting Seniors, People with Disabilities at Risk

Today's lawsuit pertains to Brookdale's current and former California skilled nursing facilities located in the cities of Bakersfield, Camarillo, Carlsbad, Northridge, Rancho Mirage, San Diego, San Dimas, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Rosa, and Yorba Linda 

March 15, 2021

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today joined a coalition of District and City Attorneys, led by Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, in filing a lawsuit against Tennessee-based Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (Brookdale), the nation’s largest senior living operator. Today’s lawsuit, which concerns Brookdale’s ten California skilled nursing facilities, alleges that Brookdale ignored laws that protect patients' safety when they are discharged from a facility. The lawsuit also alleges that Brookdale gave false information to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), information which CMS uses to award “star ratings” to skilled nursing facilities so that consumers can choose a quality facility. By lying to CMS, Brookdale fraudulently increased its star rating in several categories to attract prospective patients and their families.

The lawsuit alleges that Brookdale failed to properly notify its patients and families of transfers and discharges. Skilled nursing facilities are required to give notice of transfer or discharge at least 30 days in advance, or as soon as practicable. Brookdale failed to timely provide this required notice to its patients, with a copy to the local ombudsmen. Brookdale also failed to properly prepare its patients for transfer or discharge. As a result of these actions, Brookdale endangered the health of its patients and also left families scrambling to find other places to care for their loved ones.

The lawsuit also alleges that Brookdale misrepresented the quality of its care to the public by reporting false information to CMS. As a means of helping the public to choose a skilled nursing facility, CMS rates facilities on several quality measures on a scale of one to five stars, which are then posted to the CMS website. The lawsuit alleges that Brookdale over-reported its nursing staffing hours to CMS, and by doing so, Brookdale was awarded undeserved four-and five-star ratings. In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that by engaging in these unfair business practices, Brookdale violated both the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law.

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CMS will be transitioning to a new data source for a provider’s demographic data for all five Post-Acute Care (PAC) provider types (Skilled Nursing Facilities / Nursing Facilities (SNF/NFs), Home Health Agencies (HHAs), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs), Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs) and Hospices).  These demographic data include such items as the provider name, provider-mailing address, provider physical address, State, ZIP Code, etc.  These provider demographic data are displayed on the Provider and Quality Measure reports generated from the Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (QIES) Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) Reporting application for SNF/NF and Hospice providers and reports generated from Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) for HHA, IRF, and LTCH providers.  Additionally these same demographic data are displayed on the public reporting websites such as the Provider Data Catalog (PDC).

Historically provider demographic data have been maintained in the Automated Survey Processing Environment or ASPEN software; however, CMS will be transitioning to use the demographic information from Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS).  While this transition is underway, a final date when all demographic data will be obtained from PECOS has not been identified.  During this transition, all PAC providers will be responsible to ensure their latest demographic data are updated and available in both the ASPEN and PECOS systems.