Justice Department sues ProMedica over alleged substandard care

The U.S. Department of Justice is filing a civil complaint against ProMedica Health System for care and services that were deemed “nonexistent” or “grossly substandard” over a six-year period.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said that from 2017 to 2023, four nursing homes owned by ProMedica failed to meet the required standards of care under the Nursing Home Reform Act, in part by failing to develop or follow individualized care plans for their residents.

The four nursing homes are the ProMedica Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation facilities in Pottstown, Pennsylvania; Riverview, Ohio; Greenville East, South Carolina; and Imperial, Virginia.

In many cases, the facilities failed to provide adequate wound care to prevent pressure ulcers, failed to maintain residents’ hygiene and to provide showers as required, and failed to provide residents with appropriate assistance with feeding, which led to severe weight loss in many cases, according to the DOJ.

To conceal this substandard care, the DOJ alleged that in some cases the defendants falsely documented in resident medical records that care and services had been provided to residents when it had not been.

“An increasing number of older adults and persons with disabilities are residing in long-term care facilities,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “These residents are often particularly vulnerable to inadequate assessment and treatment of their needs.” 

The complaint, he said, “serves notice to the nursing home industry that a failure to provide adequate nursing home care will not be tolerated. Public funds expended for nursing home residents must result in appropriate care, which is what the government pays for, and the law requires.”

“Grossly substandard care places nursing home residents at serious risk of harm and this suit sends a clear message that we will pursue health care providers who fail to meet their legal obligations to provide required care and who betray the trust of the residents they are meant to serve,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.