Wayne Nursing Home Is Consistently 1 Of NJ's Worst: Comptroller

WAYNE, NJ — The New Jersey Office of the Comptroller called for restrictions on Medicaid payments to 15 nursing homes that consistently receive the lowest possible ratings. One of them is in Wayne, according to the report released Feb. 2.

The office found that Lakeview Rehabilitation and Care Center was one of the state's poorest-performing nursing homes based on criteria that included health inspections, quality measures and staffing. The longterm-care facility received $13,909,332 in Medicaid payments from 2017-19, despite consistent one-star ratings, according to authorities.

Patch reached out to Lakeview but did not receive a comment in time for initial publication.

The for-profit home currently has an overall rating of 2 out of 5 stars, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That includes two-star ratings on health inspections and staffing and three stars for quality measures. But before receiving the two-star rating in the most recent quarter last October, Lakeview earned one star in the previous eight quarters going back to the end of 2019, according to the comptroller's office.

Lakeview received ratings of four stars from the third quarter of 2017 to the first portion of 2018. But the nursing home's ratings fell to 2-3 stars from the second quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2019.

The Wayne home had 180 certified beds in October, taking care of an average of 159 residents each day, according to the report. Despite the low ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Lakeview cites numerous awards on its website's homepage.

Medicaid is a joint federal and state program administered by states. In New Jersey, the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) administers Medicaid's state and federal funding. The DMAHS provides health insurance to about 2 million residents.

Gov. Phil Murphy called the findings of the comptroller's report "completely unacceptable."

"I don't know what the action is yet, but ... that report on the 15 nursing homes is unacceptable," Murphy said. "We're ... looking at possible options on how to deal with that."

See the full report here.

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