LOUISVILLE, KY – REGIS WOODS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal authorities have terminated Medicare and Medicaid funding for a Louisville nursing home after inspectors said they found multiple, serious violations that included reports of broken bones and fighting among residents.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified Regis Woods, on Lowe Road in eastern Jefferson County, that federal funding that pays for residents’ care is being terminated Thursday.

Kentucky officials said Wednesday they are working to move residents from the facility, which could be facing closure. It is licensed for about 180 residents, but housed 135 during a recent inspection.

The federal agency also said it has been assessing fines of $6,810 per day, starting June 16 and ending Sept. 16, which will total about $613,000.

“Our priority is to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of Kentucky’s most vulnerable citizens, such as those living at Regis Woods,” Susan Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in a statement.

Dunlap said the CMS action follows an investigation by the cabinet’s inspector general, which referred findings to the federal agency.

The administrator of Regis Woods, owned by the national nursing home chain Genesis HealthCare, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The nursing home door was locked Wednesday with a sign posted that no visitors are allowed. A woman who answered the door said she couldn’t speak to a reporter.

Terminating federal funds is the most severe civil sanction federal authorities can levy against a nursing home.

In 2015, CMS terminated funding for the Hurstbourne Care Center at Stony Brook following an investigation by officials who cited filthy, unsanitary and dangerous conditions at the facility of 125 residents.

The Sept. 13 letter from CMS to Regis Woods said violations found at the facility “constituted immediate jeopardy to residents’ health and safety that is ongoing.”

A state inspection of the facility conducted in April resulted in a 337-page report that cited multiple problems at Regis Wood including:

• Poor supervision of residents that included instances of residents slapping, punching, scratching and pushing each other. In one case, a resident fell and broke an arm after being shoved by a resident. In another case, a resident suffered a broken bone in the hand after being struck by a television thrown by a resident.
• Inappropriate sexual contact among residents, some of whom may not be capable of consent.
• Failing to properly oversee medication administration and inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs. In one instance, state inspectors found 22 medicine cups in a resident’s drawer containing 37 doses of medicine, 11 of them not prescribed to that individual.
• Failing to respond promptly to call lights from residents who needed help getting to the bathroom or with other needs. Call lights went unanswered for 20 or 30 minutes. In one case, an inspector observed a call light unanswered for 39 minutes, and one resident reported having waited three hours for assistance, the report said.
• Failing to document and respond to behavior of residents.

That included one who wept continuously, another who paced constantly and one who yelled repeatedly for help.

In all, the inspection that began April 23 investigated 60 complaints of problems at Regis Woods and substantiated 28, the May 22 investigative report said.

A subsequent inspection on Aug. 24 determined Regis Woods was not in compliance with federal rules for patient health and safety, resulting in a decision to terminate the facility from the federal Medicaid and Medicare programs which cover a majority of residents in nursing homes.

The recent inspections follow a previous investigation in 2020 at Regis Woods that also cited multiple problems including staffing shortages, improper care for pressure ulcers, or bedsores, and failing to properly investigate an instance of sexual abuse by one resident of another.

It also cited failure to respond to the behaviors of residents, including one who kept yelling they “wanted out of this prison.”

Regis Woods has a one-star rating on the CMS nursing home comparison site, which means it is “much below average,” and is flagged as one cited for abuse of residents.

CMS ratings range from one to five stars.

The CMS letter said although funds are terminated Sept. 16, it will continue payments to Regis Woods for 30 days to facilitate the orderly transfer and relocations of residents.

Kentucky human services officials will oversee the relocation of residents to other facilities.

Regis Woods may appeal the termination and has 60 days to do so, CMS said.

This story may be updated.

Reach Deborah Yetter at dyetter@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4228. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter.