Life Care Copes With Ban On New Patients Nursing Home Says Problems Have Been Corrected And That It Is Working With Families And The State

The Life Care Center of Coeur d’Alene is unable to admit patients because state inspectors found serious instances of “substandard care” during a January inspection.

The ban has been in place for two weeks. It will be lifted after the nursing home passes a follow-up survey, said John Hathaway of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The nursing home also must pay $26,000 in fines. That’s high, Hathaway said.

Hathaway wouldn’t elaborate Friday on the kind of problems that were found, or the number. That information will be made public on Monday.

The nursing home’s executive director, Michelle Stelzer-O’Neill, said a “plan of correction” has been submitted and that all problems have been corrected.

Life Care is working closely with patients’ families and the state, she added.

“The Department of Health and Welfare wants to achieve the same objective as do we, and that is the very finest care for our residents,” she said.

The company’s response has included the hiring of another registered nurse as a consultant for its care centers in Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston and Sandpoint, Stelzer-O’Neill said.

She also cited the hiring of a new manager for Life Care’s Northwest Division, Cathy Murray; and increased training for employees in Coeur d’Alene.

The 120-bed facility has 89 residents. It opened in August 1996. A February 1997 review did not result in fines, but did find 14 deficiencies. That’s twice the average number found in the state’s 90 nursing homes last year.

“This facility has had a number of complaints. That’s not standard,” said Hathaway, of the state’s facility standards division. “We have 56 facilities in the state that are complaint-free.”

The state also recently found substandard care in Life Care nursing homes in Boise and Idaho Falls. A Life Care residential care facility in Pocatello recently was fined $50,000, the state’s highest-ever fine, said Hathaway.

“We went into these facilities early because of public complaints,” he said. “Each facility has to be surveyed at least once each year.”

Besides being barred from accepting new patients, Life Care cannot re-admit those who have left for stays at the hospital.

The ban isn’t so much punishment as it is an opportunity for staff to concentrate on solving patient care problems, Hathaway said.

, DataTimes