Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Attorney General Letitia James was in Buffalo on Tuesday to announce the filing a lawsuit against a nursing home in Albion for years of financial fraud that resulted in significant resident neglect and harm.
Following an extensive investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Office, the lawsuit filed against the owners of The Villages off NY-31 in Albion demonstrates how they took advantage of the state’s Medicaid program to increase their personal profits, rather than use those funds for the intended purposes of staffing and patient care.
"The owners and operators of The Villages orchestrated an elaborate Medicaid fraud scheme, pocketing more than $18.6 million from The Villages since 2015, and more than $18 million that should have been used to reinvest into The Villages for residents and for their care and for their safety. But unfortunately, it was not invested in the facilities," detailed James during a press conference on Tuesday. "Under New York law, owners of nursing homes have a special obligation, a special duty to provide a high level of care and quality for residents, and to ensure facilities are sufficiently staff to provide the care. The owners failed this duty at every level, instead, diverting millions of dollars and government-provided funds, taxpayer dollars away from the facility to increase their own personal profit, and to drastically cuts staffing at The Villages. As a result, residents were neglected and repeatedly subjected to inhumane treatment. Some died. They were forced to live under horrific conditions at facilities that receive millions of public dollars."
With this lawsuit, the Attorney General's Office seeks to compel the owners to return all funds fraudulently received, to appoint a receiver and financial monitor to stop the self-dealing and a healthcare monitor to improve care, and to require The Villages to stop admitting new patients until further notice.
From 2015 through 2021, The Villages received $86.4 million in funding, including millions in taxpayer dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, intended to provide quality healthcare to vulnerable residents. Instead, the owners cut staffing and were able to divert the previously mentioned $18.6 million — more than 20% of The Villages’ operating budget - to increase their personal profits.
When the Villages was owned by Orleans County, the facility’s nursing home rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was three out of five stars. In April 2015, just four months after the owners purchased The Villages, CMS decreased the rating to one star, the lowest possible rating.
The Attorney General's Office asserts in the suit filed Tuesday that The Villages’ reprehensible history of insufficient staffing and low quality of care is directly traceable to the owners’ financial scheme. Residents were subject to repeated abuse and neglect as the most basic functions of care were abandoned. Residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours; suffered malnourishment and dehydration; developed sepsis, gangrene, and other infections due to gaping bed sores and inadequate wound care; endured medical toxicity and unexplained doping; and sustained falls and other physical injuries. Some of these abuses, including other unmonitored or undocumented circumstances, resulted in hospitalization and even death.
Residents’ low quality of life and unacceptable level of care further worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as The Villages’ already stretched thin staff was forced to work even longer hours. Notably, management at The Villages tried to keep positive COVID-19 cases secret, and either delayed or entirely neglected to enforce proper protocols for quarantining infected residents. The owners forced staff to report to work even when they were sick, provided little to no personal protective equipment, failed to implement infection or isolation protocols, and did not report positive COVID-19 cases, resulting in unnecessary and preventable deaths.
"The Village has hid their wrongdoing from the Department of Health and the Department of Health inspectors. They lied about the facility's true ownership, they lied about the nature of their lease agreement with Telegraph, they lied about staffing levels, they lied about COVID-19 cases and so much more," James said. "These individuals took advantage of our most vulnerable, they took advantage of New Yorkers, their families and their friends. They gave themselves millions, while so many suffered at their hands. We discovered that the fraud and human rights abuses were not limited to the pandemic, but were part of a systemic pattern of behavior the pandemic laid bare. And while no legal action can bring back the loved ones that were lost, we are holding these individuals accountable and taking significant measures to ensure this never happens again. This malpractice and misconduct will not go unpunished, and we will not allow anyone else to be treated this way."
Also in attendance for Tuesday's press conference were some of the families who had loved one experience the mistreatment at The Villages, including Margarette Volmar, whose late husband was staying at the nursing home some time before his unfortunate death. She says her point of being at Tuesday's press conference was to restore her husband's dignity.
"On New Year's Eve, I called in the morning to speak with him. The only contact I was able to have with him because of COVID was through video. I called and nobody answered. I called again, finally, somebody answered and said he was sleeping. I said, 'Alright, I'll call back later,'" explained Volmar. "About two in the afternoon, I called back and he was still sleeping. I said, 'Well, it's not really like him. I don't know what's going on.' He hadn't been there but a month, and I said, 'Okay, I'll call back around dinnertime.' So after 14 rings, they finally picked up the phone and she said to me, he's still sleeping. I said, 'That doesn't make any sense to me. My husband doesn't sleep like that.' So I said, 'Tell you what, you take this video equipment, you take it in his room. Let me see he's sleeping.' They did. My husband was laying on a bed with no sheets, no blankets, no clothing. He had on a diaper, and that's how he laid in 14 degree weather. This is one of the reasons I'm trying to help do anything I can do to stop this."
At this time, there is no plans to close The Villages during this matter. It is the goal to resolve all issues at this nursing home, which James says is the worst case she’s experienced in her time in office.
Hear more from the Attorney General's press conference from Tuesday available in the player below: