COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VA – New citations have been issued against a Virginia nursing home after an inspection that uncovered continuing care and safety violations, WTVR reported.
Inspectors with the Virginia Department of Health returned to the Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in March for an updated inspection after numerous violations were found in December and January. VDH said the facility had claimed it would come back into regulatory compliance, but the follow-up inspection investigated and substantiated five complaints.
Alleged abuse at the facility came to light in October 2024, when police were notified of a potential elder abuse case involving a 74-year-old woman who was previously a patient there. The woman was taken to a hospital after being discharged and died a few weeks later due to what authorities said was sepsis caused by inadequate care she received at the nursing home. She reportedly suffered from cerebral palsy and diabetes prior to her death.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Colonial Heights Police Department, and the Virginia Department of Health opened an investigation into the woman’s death.
18 people associated with the home were subsequently arrested in December on charges including elder abuse, neglect and falsifying records. 13 defendants appeared in court March 26 in connection with the case, including nursing employees, a medical director, and the facility administrator.
The inspections by the state in December and January indicated excessively low staffing at the facility, inadequate wound care, and medication errors.
Among the citations issued during the March inspection were that the nursing home failed to report an allegation of abuse in a timely manner after a resident and nurse aide got into an argument and the staff member allegedly pushed the resident so hard he fell off the bed. The administrator told inspectors she felt at first there was “nothing to report.” However, after the resident made a complaint to police, she notified law enforcement and state authorities. The resident was not injured, and no charges were filed.
Several other citations were issued, including the failing to ensure that a resident received physician ordered treatments for worsening pressure ulcers, the nursing home failing to develop and implement resident-specific interventions after a resident sustained two falls, and a citation for failing to maintain one-on-one supervision of a resident with mental health impairments and a known history of making unwanted sexual advancements on other residents.
In a statement. facility spokesperson Mindie Barnett told WTVR that the latest violations were less severe and did not place residents in immediate jeopardy or actual harm. VDH described the severity of the citations as “a pattern deficiency that constitutes no actual harm with potential for more than minimal harm that is not immediate jeopardy.”
“In each case corrective action was taken and submitted to the Virginia Department of Health for its approval.” said Barnett. “Approval was given and the corrective actions were completed. Corrective action plans included resident referral for guardianship, various types of resident audits, education and re-education of staff, notifications to healthcare providers, residents being placed on one-to-one supervision, and the reporting of allegations to law enforcement. While Colonial Heights and many other skilled nursing facilities strive for perfection people are human and do make mistakes. The importance is that no harm occurred, corrective action was taken, and the dedicated staff of Colonial Heights continues to work both hard and competently to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its residents in the face of intense scrutiny.”
Beginning in December, a fine of $1,295 per day was imposed on Colonial Heights by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal regulator of nursing homes. CMS said it would begin denying Medicare and Medicaid payments for new admissions if the facility did not come back into regulatory compliance within three months. But Barnett said the nursing home voluntarily stopped accepting new residents after most of its nursing staff were arrested in an effort to “consolidate its resources and support its unwavering commitment to care for its residents.”
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