Health care remote

GREENUP, Ill. — State and federal health officials have fined an eastern Illinois nursing home nearly $120,000 for failing to immediately notify a doctor that a resident identified as a “known complainer” had suffered a heart attack last August.

The Illinois Department of Health and Human Services reduced its $25,000 fine to $16,250 when the embattled Cumberland Rehab and Health Care Center in Greenup, Illinois, waived its right to a hearing. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fined the nursing home an additional $94,983. It was unclear late Monday if a portion of that penalty had been similarly reduced.

According to a state review of the Aug. 19 incident, the resident complained of chest pain to three nurses.

“I was scared for my life,” she told investigators, according to a state report. “It was a nightmare to me. I knew something was going on with my heart but no one would listen. They made me feel like I was crazy and didn’t know what I was talking about. Like I had dementia and I don’t. I’m just glad to be out of there and alive.”

“Absolutely, I should have been notified immediately of chest pain,” the resident’s primary care doctor told investigators.

Nursing home officials declined to be interviewed about the fine. But the center’s administrator, Katie Hanner, provided a statement to the Effingham, Illinois Daily News via email.

“We strive to provide quality healthcare to all of the residents of our surrounding communities,” Hanner wrote. “We provide ongoing training to our staff and will continue to train and supervise them.”

The resident told investigators, “my call light wasn’t even working and I had to yell for help. I was hot and sweaty and wanted to go to the hospital. The nurse told me very hatefully that just because I wanted to go to the hospital doesn’t mean I could go.”

The nursing home employees involved told investigators the resident was a “known complainer,” though the woman told investigators she couldn’t sleep and spent all night praying she would get out of the facility alive.

The fourth nurse administered pain medication at 3:55 p.m. Aug. 20. By 6:30 p.m., the resident could better describe her pain, so the nurse called the doctor. He ordered the resident to the hospital.

The ER doctor who treated the resident said delay in treatment could have killed her. The resident’s right coronary artery, which supplies blood to the right side of the heart, was reportedly 100 percent blocked and required two stents.

The state has investigated seven complaints about the nursing home since 2010. Incidents included allowing a resident to fall, the development of pressure ulcers in a resident, and yelling at a resident, among others. One complaint was unfounded.

The department learned of the heart attack incident through confidential complaint, said department of health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.

“This is an example of what the program is supposed to do,” she said.

It was termed an “immediate jeopardy, meaning something needed to be done immediately to prevent a recurrence,” Arnold said.

The facility received a cumulative one of five stars from Medicare.gov’s collection of reviews of health and fire inspections, staffing, and other quality measures. That includes nine health violations, above the 7.9 average in the state and 7.2 nationwide.

Milldrum writes for the Effingham, Illinois Daily News.