A pair of citizen advocacy groups want the state of Massachusetts to take over half of the nursing homes on the western side of the state slated for closure to avert what they call a chaotic transfer process and to ensure state rules are followed.
Dignity Alliance and Stavros Center for Independent Living petitioned the state Department of Public Health through letters to put the facilities into receivership, alleging the facility owner is “blatantly in violation” of state regulations. It said that the closure process is not supposed to begin until the department of health approves the plan, but facilities are already moving residents out. Spanish-speaking residents are being transferred to nursing homes without Spanish-speaking staff, and other patients have been sent to facilities on the other side of the state, the protesters claim.
“What is happening is outrageous, tragic, and needs to be halted by immediately placing at least two of the homes in receivership,” the Dignity Alliance letter said.
The Department of Health confirmed to McKnights Long-Term Care News Friday that it received the letters and will determine whether an investigation is warranted. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office confirmed that it also has received the letters.
The Northeast Health Group, which owns the Chapin Center in Springfield, Governor’s Center in Westfield, and Willimansett Center East and West, both in Chicopee, had not responded to McKnight’s requests for comment as of late Friday.
An employee who answered the phone at Willimansett Center East confirmed that only four patients remained there and that they were told to vacate by early April. Messages left at the other three facilities were not returned Friday.
The advocacy groups said that the nursing homes are telling residents’ families and representatives that they must find other housing by early April instead of by June 6, which is the state deadline based on when Northeast Health Group told state regulators it would shutter the SNFs.
Last month, McKnights reported that the Northeast Health Group unsuccessfully applied for a waiver from an April 2021 state rule limiting nursing home occupancy to no more than two residents per room. The closure plans submitted for each of the four facilities said they were built to accommodate three to four residents per room and making them less dense would also make them financially insolvent.
The state department of health held public hearings on March 1 and March 2 on the proposed closures and will either approve the plans or request additional information by March 15, a spokeswoman said. As part of state requirements for nursing home closure plans, facilities must provide psychological counseling or preparation to each resident, detail efforts to find appropriate placements in facilities capable of meeting each resident’s specific needs, and consult with families or legal representatives on placement options.
“The Department will monitor the closure process to ensure the safe and orderly transfer of residents and that safe, high-quality resident care is maintained throughout,” a health department said in an email Friday. Thirty-one providers have filed a lawsuit in Suffolk County seeking to stop the two-bed per room capacity limit. While private rooms do a better job of helping manage infection spread, providers have said they cannot comply with that mandate without additional state or federal resources to build more rooms or redesign current ones, leaving them with few options other than closing or reducing admissions.
