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NY nursing home chain sued for allegedly neglecting patients, pilfering $83M in
government funds
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NY NURSING HOME CHAIN SUED FOR ALLEGEDLY NEGLECTING PATIENTS, PILFERING $83M IN
GOVERNMENT FUNDS



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By
Caroline Lewis

Published Jun 28, 2023 at 6:03 p.m.

Modified Jun 28, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

4 comments

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By
Caroline Lewis

Published Jun 28, 2023 at 6:03 p.m.

Modified Jun 28, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

4 comments

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The New York attorney general is suing a large nursing home operator, alleging
that its owners pocketed more than $83 million from Medicare and Medicaid that
was intended for patient care while neglecting residents at their facilities
across the state.

The lawsuit is against the for-profit company Centers Health Care along with its
individual owners and a web of their family members and related limited
liability companies involved with the nursing home network. The alleged pattern
of neglect – which includes unsanitary conditions and instances of patients
being left to sit in their own urine and feces for hours – took place over
several years at the Beth Abraham Center in the Bronx as well as three other
facilities in Buffalo, Queens and White Plains.

“People, and particularly vulnerable New Yorkers, deserve better,” New York
Attorney General Letitia James said at a press conference about the lawsuit on
Wednesday. “We will do everything in our power to protect our most vulnerable
because no one should be treated this way.”

Jeff Jacomowitz, a spokesperson for Centers Health Care, said the nursing home
operator will fight the allegations.

“Centers Health Care prides itself on its commitment to patient care,”
Jacomowitz said in a statement. “Centers denies the New York attorney general’s
allegations wholeheartedly and attempted to resolve this matter out of court.”

The network includes nearly 40 nursing homes across New York as well as
additional facilities in other states. James has recently been on a swing of
suing nursing home owners for fraud and neglect, and representatives from her
office said investigations into other nursing home operators are ongoing.



Kenneth Rozenberg and Daryl Hagler, co-owners of Centers Health Care, allegedly
used multiple schemes to pilfer money from the nursing homes, including a
deceptive real estate arrangement. Through a series of limited liability
companies, Hagler also served as the landlord of these nursing homes and charged
rents that were much higher than the rates initially reported to the state
Department of Health when he and Rozenberg sought approval to operate the homes,
according to the lawsuit. For instance, the company initially reported that its
center in Buffalo would have an annual rent of $600,000 – but the lease that was
ultimately signed required an annual payment of $2 million.

Centers Health Care also routinely paid invoices for services provided by
companies that were owned by Rozenberg and Hagler or their family members that,
the attorney general stated, were either not needed or never rendered.

State records show that nursing homes in New York are often operated by similar
networks of overlapping limited liability companies that can be difficult to
untangle.

While the owners squeezed money out of these nursing homes, staffing and patient
care suffered, the lawsuit says.

According to the attorney general’s office, a patient at Beth Abraham fell
multiple times in October 2020 while trying to get herself to the bathroom after
her call-bell went unanswered by staff. Employees told her daughter she wasn’t
injured, but three days later she had to go to the hospital and was told she had
a dislocated hip that required immediate surgery, the lawsuit says. She also had
a “severe diaper rash covering the majority of her lower torso,” according to
the attorney general’s press release on the case.

Centers Health Care purchased Beth Abraham from the nonprofit operator
CenterLight Health System in 2016. The sale took place shortly after CenterLight
reached a $46.7 million settlement for Medicaid fraud with Preet Bharara, the
former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and began shedding
assets.



The attorney general is asking the court to require Centers Health Care to hire
a monitor to oversee its financial and health care operations — and to bar the
facilities from admitting any more patients until it hires adequate staff. James
is also seeking to get Centers Health Care to return the $83 million to Medicaid
and to reimburse the state for legal fees and the cost of the investigation into
its activities.

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Tagged

Health and Science
new york state
health care
new york attorney general

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Caroline Lewis


Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist — and also
covers cannabis, both with an eye towards equity and accountability. She was
previously a health care reporter for Crain’s New York Business. Lewis has a
degree from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and is a native New Yorker,
although she has left occasionally. She did a Fulbright in Chile in 2011 and is
fluent in Spanish. She now resides in Brooklyn.

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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