Press Releases
02/16/2023
Attorney General Tong Seeks Authority to Recover State Funds from Seriously Deficient Nursing Homes Causing Harm to Patients
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today urged support for legislation empowering the Office of the Attorney General to recover state funds from seriously deficient long term care facilities causing harm to patients.
While the Department of Public Health has enforcement authority over violations of state and federal law concerning care of residents in long term care facilities, the state currently lacks authority to recover state funding, including Medicaid dollars, these facilities may receive while providing deficient care that harms or threatens to harm residents.
An Act Concerning the Office of the Attorney General’s Proposed Remedies for Deficient Long Term Care would empower the Office of the Attorney General to conduct investigations and bring civil actions in cases of harm or potential harm to patients, where the Department of Public Health has issued orders or determinations that state or federal laws or regulations have been violated. The legislation would empower the Office of the Attorney General to recover up to three times the damages sustained by the state, in addition to civil penalties from $5,500 to $11,000 for each instance of a violation. The legislation would further empower the Office of the Attorney General to obtain injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent future violations and harm to patients.
“Like many Connecticut residents, I am deeply concerned that over the last couple of years Connecticut long term care facilities have failed in some instances to deliver adequate care, and as a result residents have suffered serious harm,” Attorney General Tong states in his testimony. “The state pays billions of dollars annually through Medicaid and other state programs for long term care for our most vulnerable residents. Remarkably, the state does not have an adequate remedy to recover the monies it spends when the care it pays for results in harm to long term care residents. This bill will permit my office to recover taxpayer funds spent on deficient long-term care that harms residents.”
In his testimony, Attorney General Tong details several recent instances where egregious failures in care resulted in deaths of nursing home patients. In August 2020, before Covid vaccines were available, a nurse reported that she and her family members were ill and awaiting Covid test results. The nurse remained at work unmasked. Five residents ultimately died of Covid and more than two dozen residents and staff were infected as a result of a Covid outbreak tied to this particular nurse. DPH shut down the facility and transferred its residents to other facilities. In April 2021, another nursing home received a lab report showing its water contained Legionella bacteria. The facility did nothing to remediate the problem, resulting in a resident testing positive for Legionnaire’s disease. In 2022, two patients died when their nursing home failed to administer necessary medicines for multiple days. DPH ultimately shut down the facility and transferred patients elsewhere.
“I recognize that long term care facilities are working hard in a difficult environment to care for their residents. But when bad care harms or threatens to harm long term care residents, the state must be able to recover the money it has paid for that care and for its harmful consequences,” Attorney General Tong states in his testimony.
Click here to read Attorney General Tong’s full testimony.
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Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
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