Two Louisville Nursing Homes Agree to Shut Down and Pay Over $1 Million in Civil Monetary Penalties Resulting from Noncompliance with Medicare Rules and Regulations

Louisville, KY – U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett announced today that two nursing homes that filed federal lawsuits seeking injunctive relief against the United States in an effort to remain open, have dismissed their cases, agreed to shut down, and will pay a total of $1,026,409 in civil money penalties to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Hillcreek Rehab and Care (Hillcreek), is located at 3116 Breckenridge Lane in Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Matthews Care and Rehab Center (St. Matthews), is located at 227 Browns Lane in Louisville, Kentucky. Both facilities are owned and operated by Medical Rehabilitation Centers, LLC, d/b/a Exceptional Living Centers, which is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky.

“This office will vigorously defend the actions of CMS when it seeks to hold accountable nursing facilities that fail to comply with Medicare rules and regulations,” said U.S. Attorney Bennett. “Nursing homes must meet all federal program requirements and provide their residents, which include some of our most vulnerable citizens, with the quality care and services they deserve. When facilities fail to meet these requirements, CMS is authorized to hold the facilities accountable.”

“CMS takes seriously our role in promoting the health and safety of nursing home residents. As was shown during onsite inspections, the residents of these two nursing homes did not receive the care they were entitled to,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “We appreciate the efforts of the State of Kentucky to assess the quality of care through the survey process and support the relocation of residents to safer settings.”

The Kentucky Division of Health Care performed numerous site visits, called “surveys,” of Hillcreek and St. Matthews beginning in September 2022 and continuing through May 2023. These surveys found substantial noncompliance with Medicare rules and regulations. As noted in filings with the Court, in the case of Hillcreek, those surveys included the following findings, among others:

• Hillcreek repeatedly used blood glucometers on multiple patients without disinfecting the glucometers.
• Hillcreek left a resident in an unheated room, on the floor with skin tears, covered in urine and feces, who ultimately died of hypothermia.
• Hillcreek was infested with rodents, with rats and their droppings in plain view in various parts of the facility including resident rooms, and a resident was bitten by a rodent.
• Hillcreek left residents in soiled clothing and linens without appropriate checks from staff.
• Hillcreek left garbage cans in resident rooms and elsewhere overflowing with soiled adult briefs.
• Hillcreek failed to implement care plans for multiple residents, each of whom later suffered serious harm.
• A March 2023 survey found that Hillcreek improperly kept medications past expiration and improperly left medications unlocked.
• Hillcreek hired personnel despite disqualifying criminal convictions.
• Even though Hillcreek corrected some deficiencies cited by Kentucky, Hillcreek failed to be in substantial compliance even after a fourth revisit. Many Hillcreek resident rooms still had malfunctioning and nonfunctioning heating and cooling units, including one left pulled out of an exterior wall, allowing rodents to enter.

In the case of St. Matthews, filings with the Court showed that CMS surveys included the following findings, among others:

• St. Matthews failed to protect residents from abuse.
• St. Matthews used blood glucometers on multiple patients without disinfecting them properly between uses.
• St. Matthews’ personnel files failed to show that complete and proper background checks had been performed on its employees, with some employees having disqualifying events that proper background checks should have revealed.
• St. Matthews failed to ensure that alleged violations involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, or mistreatment, including injuries of unknown source and misappropriation of resident property, were reported immediately.
• St. Matthews failed to develop and implement care plan interventions for residents with physician’s orders for oxygen.

The federal lawsuits were filed by Hillcreek and St. Matthews in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on May 24, 2023. The cases were styled St. Matthews Care and Rehab Center, LLC v. Becerra, et al. (3:23-cv-261) and Hillcreek Rehab and Care, LLC v. Becerra, et al. (3:23-cv-265). The United States filed motions to dismiss the lawsuits and sought to dissolve the temporary restraining orders initially entered by the Court. Following a brief hearing with the Court on June 1, 2023, Hillcreek and St. Matthews agreed to terminate their provider agreements with Medicare, dissolve the temporary restraining orders, dismiss their cases, with prejudice, and close their facilities within 30 days. As part of the closure process, Hillcreek and St. Matthews will be required to safely transfer Medicare and Medicaid residents in their respective facilities to other facilities and submit a comprehensive closure and relocation plan for each facility that is acceptable to CMS.

As a result of their noncompliance with federal rules and regulations, Hillcreek and Exceptional Living Centers will pay to CMS a Civil Monetary Penalty of $636,752.75 and St. Matthews and Exceptional Living Centers will pay to CMS a Civil Monetary Penalty of $389,656.25, for a combined total of $1,026,409.

Defense of these cases was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Jason Snyder, William F. Campbell, and Benjamin S. Schecter. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the General Counsel and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provided substantial support in response to these cases.

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