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TexasTowelie

(111,292 posts)
Sun Apr 5, 2020, 05:30 AM Apr 2020

Life Care in Kirkland facing more than $600K in fines for COVID-19 response

Life Care Center (LCC) of Kirkland is facing more than $600,000 in fines for its response to the COVID-19 outbreak in its facility.

LCC of Kirkland is the site where the COVID-19 outbreak started in the United States.

On April 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contacted the Kirkland center to inform them that following a survey of the facility, LCC of Kirkland is being penalized $13,585 per day for Feb. 12 through March 27, for a total of $611,325. According to the communication between CMS and LCC of Kirkland, the center must either pay the fines or correct the deficiencies CMS found in its survey by Sept. 16. If LCC of Kirkland does not do this, the facility will be terminated.

CMS notified LCC of Kirkland on March 18 that the agency, along with the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) state survey agency, completed a complaint survey at the facility on March 16 and informed LCC of Kirkland of its immediate jeopardy (IJ) disposition. IJ is a situation “in which the provider’s noncompliance with one or more requirements of participation has caused, or is likely to cause, serious injury, harm, impairment, or death to a resident,” according to CMS.

Read more: https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/life-care-in-kirkland-facing-more-than-600k-in-fines-for-covid-19-response/

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Life Care in Kirkland facing more than $600K in fines for COVID-19 response (Original Post) TexasTowelie Apr 2020 OP
The specifics related to COVID-19 Aquaria Apr 2020 #1
 

Aquaria

(1,076 posts)
1. The specifics related to COVID-19
Sun Apr 5, 2020, 07:43 AM
Apr 2020

Are deeper in the article.

Had to go there to verify that it was COVID-related, because my first thought was that attributing it to the virus might be hasty. Assisted living facilities can rack up big CMS penalties for a lot of things unrelated to an epidemic, after all.

The big three in the Kirkland case seem to be:

Failing to respond quickly enough to an infectious outbreak.

Not having an adequate emergency response plan, particularly not having access to an emergency physician available 24/7.

The last is a twofer: failing to provide adequate surveillance for the respiratory outbreak, and failing to notify the outbreak to the state health department.

One thing about a story like this is that it helps us to know what to look for and ask about when we’re facing loved ones needing these care facilities.


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