State must get tougher on nursing homes

Hundreds of Long Island's most vulnerable seniors, who thought they had found a reliable setting providing the care they required, are now experiencing upheaval and uncertainty.

The residents of The Harborside in Port Washington and Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation in Woodbury had relied on the promise of housing and health care. Now, Cold Spring Hills intends to close by May and relocate its 300 residents to other facilities. The Harborside, which filed for bankruptcy three times, is likely to be bought by a company that will keep independent living apartments open but close skilled nursing units next month. That will force some residents out and could cost everyone who invested in the facility about 75% of the entrance fees they paid — likely hundreds of thousands of dollars for each resident. 

Both situations are highly disruptive — and both could have been prevented.

As Long Islanders age, situations like those at Cold Spring Hills and The Harborside serve as cautionary tales of what can happen when bad actors are involved, when facilities are poorly managed, or when companies make promises they cannot keep. And while state Health Department officials say they have tried to generally expand inspection and enforcement efforts to improve operations at nursing homes and other such facilities, it clearly has not been enough. The state must aggressively regulate to prevent such tragic closures from happening again.

Cold Spring Hills was in dire financial straits for years. More than two years ago, following a Newsday investigation, Attorney General Letitia James charged the nursing home's owners with fraud, part of an extensive scheme to enrich themselves. Even then, promises of restitution and reform didn't result in meaningful change. Enormous additional fines after patient deaths and injuries didn't do the job, either.

The problems at The Harborside, meanwhile, come after years of mismanagement and financial trouble and inadequate state oversight. No facility should be able to go through three bankruptcies and constant turmoil, and still leave residents in the lurch in the end. State officials also should examine the various business models involved in continuing care retirement communities like The Harborside to determine what works and what doesn't. If certain models are more successful, officials should limit their approvals to financially viable proposals that don't expose residents to financial losses.

Prospective residents of any nursing or adult care facility also deserve to know what the state knows about the locations they're considering. The state should expand its adult care facility online information dashboard to include inspection reports and other key information so families can avoid trouble spots.

It's hard enough for Long Island's seniors and their families to address the challenges of aging and finding a home that meets their needs. They shouldn't have to wonder whether they're putting their finances, their futures and their lives at risk.