Care

Pennsylvania Sues Grane Nursing Homes Over Staffing Levels

A company with 11 skilled nursing homes in Pennsylvania doesn’t have enough staff to provide basic patient care — and faked it when state Department of Health inspectors were around, the state attorney general said in a consumer protection lawsuit filed Friday. One patient, for example, needed medical cream applied daily but records show it was skipped 19 times one month. The same resident …


Pennsylvania Files Lawsuit Against Nursing Home Chain

The state attorney general’s office has filed a lawsuit that claims a nursing home operator failed to provide basic services to elderly residents at its Harrisburg facility and 10 others in the state. Pittsburgh-based Grane Healthcare, which manages and operates Colonial Park Care Center, is accused of limiting the number of certified nursing assistants on duty, leaving …


Life Care Centers of America, Inc. Agrees to Settle Qui Tam Lawsuit Alleging That the Nursing Home Company Billed Medicare and TRICARE for Unnecessary Medical Services; Agrees to Pay $145 Million

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the settlement of a consolidated False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit that was filed against private nursing home company Life Care Centers of America, Inc. (“Life Care”). The lawsuit alleges that, between January 2006 and February 2013, Life Care engaged in health care fraud by submitting false claims to Medicare and …


Providence Health Agrees to Settle Pension Lawsuit

A Renton-based health care system has agreed to pay $351.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its employee pension plan. The Seattle Times reports that two nurses with Providence Health & Services filed a lawsuit against their employer in 2014 arguing that the health care group failed to fully fund their workers’ retirement plan.


16-Year-Old Girl Wins Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit Against Chipotle

A 16-year-old girl said she was sexually harassed by two managers at the Chipotle restaurant on Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor in west Houston for four months in 2013. This week, a jury awarded her and her attorneys a multimillion-dollar judgment. The now-16-year-old told KPRC 2, “It was definitely hard.


ACLU Seeks Intervention in Lawsuit Targeting Anti-Discrimination Protections for Transgender People and Women

ACLU seeks intervention in lawsuit targeting anti-discrimination protections for transgender people and women FORT WORTH, Texas — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Friday filed a motion to intervene in a case challenging a section of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits health care entities from discriminating based on race, national origin, sex, age, or disability. The lawsuit, …



Elderly Couple Temporarily Reunited in Care Home Pending Outcome of Lawsuit

An elderly couple has been reunited in a nursing care home — if only temporarily. In a joint statement issued Tuesday by the state and counsel for plaintiffs Noboru and Elaine Kawamoto, the couple are back to living together “pending determination by the Court of the constitutionality of certain Hawaii state statutes and …


Judge Won’t Certify Class in Lawsuit Against New York Home Health Provider

Magistrate Judge Steven Locke of the Eastern District New York, recently denied conditional certification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the Cowell v. Utopia Home Carecase. For some home health patients, a plan of care includes general household tasks. | Janice Smits / Shutterstock This decision prevents the Utopia Home Care employees from filing …


State Reaches Settlement With Foster Parents Over Stipend Increases

The Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS) and local foster parents have come to an agreement over the cost of caring for children in foster care. The agreement aims to resolve a federal class action lawsuit that was filed in December 2013, and a related case filed in state court. When the lawsuits were filed, foster parents were provided with a stipend of $529 per month, which was intended …