Amid months of litigation and scrutiny by the attorney general’s office over its business practices and resident care, a Nassau County nursing home is facing new pushback from its own employees, who claim that it has failed to pay their benefits.
Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Woodbury has been ordered to pay approximately $8.2 million by health care labor giant 1199SEIU over claims that the nursing home missed six months of payments into employee benefit funds.
The arbitration agreements, filed in the New York County Supreme Court on Wednesday, state that the nursing home missed payments into employee funds for health benefits, pensions, training and child care in violation of its contract with the union. The awards, which were decided by independent arbitrator Martin F. Scheinman, await confirmation by a judge.
The arbitration awards follow weeks of rallies by employees at Cold Spring Hills over allegations that administrators’ have shirked responsibilities to pay for employee health benefits. Lack of payments ultimately put more than 400 workers’ health insurance at risk of expiring, the union said.
1199 said that Cold Spring Hills failed to pay into the employee health benefit fund for at least three months, leaving a hole of $4.6 million. While the arbitration agreements will order the home to pay back missed benefit fund payments, those awards will not cover future health insurance, a spokesperson from the union said.
Cold Spring Hills staff members were supposed to lose their health insurance coverage today—but an agreement by administrators to provide a partial payment of $750,000 has extended employee health insurance coverage through September 15, said Timothy Rodgers, vice president at 1199SEIU, which represents the workers.
Many workers are still preparing to lose insurance coverage in the coming weeks, Rodgers said, noting that administrators have not agreed to make any additional payments.
“We have workers who are looking at how many medications they have left,” Rodgers said, adding that some employees have skipped daily medications to stretch their supply. “These are the hard choices that workers are being forced to make.”
The union has called on the state Department of Health to appoint an emergency receiver to take over operations at the 588-bed nursing home in an effort to bring stability to workers and patients, Rodgers said.
Representatives from the nursing home did not respond to three requests for comment on Thursday.
The union dispute is only the latest call for oversight at Cold Spring Hills. Attorney General Letitia James also pushed for an independent monitor at the nursing home in a lawsuit filed last December, which accused Cold Spring Hills’ owners of siphoning federal money away from patient care.
The attorney general’s investigation found that Cold Spring Hills’ owners diverted $22.6 million in funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, using a network of companies to hide their profits. According to the investigation, nursing home operators used 13 fraudulent companies to create the appearance that they were paying for nursing home services, when they were actually diverting the funds to companies that they owned and operated for their personal gain.
This practice—known as related party transactions—has become common in the nursing home industry, with the attorney general’s office initiating a number of investigations into homes that hide their money in networks of companies to increase their profits.
James stated that the Cold Spring Hills scheme not only misused federal funds—it put patients’ health at risk. Testimony from family members and staff revealed dirty conditions, broken equipment and patient neglect—in some cases leading to worsening infections and death.
A spokesperson from the attorney general’s office said that the administration won its preliminary injunction last month, which required the nursing home to obtain and pay for an independent health care monitor. This monitor, which was approved by the attorney general and the court, will oversee health care operations and improve resident outcomes while the litigation continues, the spokesperson said.
Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Community Care Coalition, an advocacy group for patients in nursing homes, said that allegations of failed payments for employee benefits and poor resident care begs questions about state oversight over nursing homes.
“It's really scary to see, frankly, that these operators are acting with what is alleged to be a tremendous amount of malfeasance and betrayal of public confidence,” Mollot said. “How is this allowed to continue?” —Amanda D’Ambrosio