State seeks to take over Derby nursing home
The state is seeking to take over operation of an adult care home in Derby after an annual inspection found the home was struggling to pay for food, medicine and utilities.
The state surveyor found life-threatening conditions that place the 39 residents at Westview of Derby “in immediate risk of irreparable injury, loss or damage,” according to court papers.
A request for a temporary restraining order filed Sept. 12 by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services says Westview of Derby is thousands of dollars in debt to vendors and isn’t paying its utility bills until it receives disconnection notices.
The facility’s administrator told the department in a phone call earlier this month that it owed approximately $476,000 in vendor and utility payments — but that the estimate was likely low because “he is unable to view past due amounts,” according to court records.
Some of the vendors that Westview owes money to provide food and pharmacy services the people who live there, the documents say.
Utility disconnection notices have also been a problem. So far this year Westview has received 12 letters from Westar Energy threatening service shut off. Westview also had its water shut off three times since February 2017 over unpaid bills, was “saved from shut off” on Dec. 13, 2017, and was two months behind making payments between June 13 and Sept. 5.
“Without sufficient funds to pay critical vendors, residents will not receive essential goods and services to support their health, safety, and welfare,” the request for temporary restraining order says.
“Such conditions are life threatening and place the residents in immediate risk of irreparable injury, loss, or damage and demonstrate the facility’s insolvency.”
Westview also owes the state $976,145 in quality care assessment payments, which pay for facility inspections and finance initiatives designed to maintain or increase the quality of care in licensed skilled nursing facilities. That figure includes $430,262 in penalties for non payment since 2012.
Westview of Derby, 445 N. Westview Dr. in Derby, is owned by Michael Marshall and was managed and operated by Sovran Management Company at the time the deficiencies were discovered, according to court records.
It’s licensed for 90 skilled nursing and nursing facility beds. There are 39 residents, department spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said Monday. She said the court filings allow the state to step in “to stop anything from getting out of hand.”
“We go in and make sure their (the patients’) food services, their medical care, and their attendant care is at the level that it should be provided,” she said.
Westview facility administrator Steve Griffin said Monday that the care home is still open and is now be operated by a temporary management company. The residents “are safe and getting the care that they are needing,” he said.
Michael Levitt, vice president of operations for Walnut Creek Management, the temporary management agency, said officials have already met with Westview employees, talked to vendors and sent letters to residents’ family members notifying them of the management change.
“It’s not necessarily normal but it is an occurrence that happens,” he said, adding that the state’s main issue with Westview involved finances.
The request for a restraining order came eight days after an annual inspection on Sept. 4. The deficiencies include not giving residents baths, failing to provide preference sheets and not including residents’ preferences and bathing within their care plans.
The surveyor also discovered that Westview didn’t call the department’s abuse hotline after two residents got into a fight and that one resident “fell from a bath chair when it ‘broke into pieces,’” according to court documents.
In a follow-up phone call on Sept. 6, the Westview facility administrator told the department that the facility doesn’t pay utility bills “until disconnect notices are received” and that he had used his personal credit card “as a back up to ensure the food and pharmacy services are not discontinued” to residents.
The administrator also told the state that he charged $1,167.48 on his personal credit card to get pagers for on-duty staff that had been on back order because of a past-due, unpaid bill.
The next day – on Sept. 7 – the state received a complaint alleging that Westview failed to reimburse $2,079.02 to the family of a resident who died in October 2017.
According to court records, Westview past-due bills include:
- $306,492.32 to Preston pharmacy. The balance is owed by Sovran Management Company as part of a 2017 lawsuit
- $93,190 to Vitzum Commercial Flooring for an unpaid job the company sued over
- $20,086.44 to Affiliated Medical Services for lab services
- $18,563 to AMS Lab
- $16,520 to Respiratory Services of Kansas for past-due orders. The company now requires Westview pay cash on delivery for orders
- $14,449.75 to Dan’s Heating and Air, which the company sued for
- $13,804 to US Food, which provides Westview’s food services
- $11,927.68 to Omnicare, which provides medication to Westview
- $6,117.80 to Unified Services
- $2,803.16 to Cascade for staffing services
- $1,164.81 to Wichita Radiology
- $1,164.81 to Kansas Mobile Solutions for mobile radiology services
- $950.09 to Ecolab for chemical services
- $900 to Broadway Home Medical for rent on a sit-to-stand lift
- $858.90 to RL Specialty, which provided linen services
- $672.67 to Midwest Single Source for office supplies
- $590.39 to AT&T for internet and telephone services that would be disconnected if not paid by Sept. 12
- $410.40 to Medical Equipment Services of Kansas for calibrating equipment in Westview’s therapy room
- $380 to facility dairy products provider Oak Farms, which on July 27 told Westview they couldn’t carry past due balances every month
- $360 to Vita+Stat for software support
This story was originally published September 17, 2018 at 5:29 PM.