Lawmakers call for state investigation into South Hadley nursing home

SOUTH HADLEY – Concerned about its financial stability and ability to care for its patients, two lawmakers have called on the state to launch an investigation into a nursing home in South Hadley.

In a joint letter to Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and Health Secretary Kate Walsh, State Senator Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) and State Representative Dan Carey (D-Easthampton) called for an official investigation into the events at the Pioneer Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center, operated by BluPoint Healthcare.

“The residents and staff of the South Hadley Nursing Home deserve better,” Oliveira said in a statement. “Unpaid wages, deteriorating and unsanitary working and living conditions, and clear financial mismanagement by Blupoint have created a dire situation for the staff and residents of the Pioneer Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center. We call on the Attorney General and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to launch an official investigation and hold those responsible accountable.”

BluePoint Healthcare did not respond to The Republican’s request for comment.

Oliveira said he first learned of the situation through a call from a concerned employee who had not received pay for weeks, but after he forwarded the complaint to the attorney general, there was a flood of calls.

Oliveira and Carey said nursing home staff told them they were working more than 60 hours a week due to staff shortages. Staff worked without proper cleaning supplies, deputies said in a news release, and used pillowcases to clean up messes.

The lack of resources forces residents to “sit in excrement,” lawmakers said.

Employees reported that their paychecks bounced and they were purchasing supplies with their own funds. For example, one building manager paid his electric bill with a personal credit card.

“It’s especially concerning because we’ve seen several nursing and rehabilitation facilities close in Chicopee, Springfield and Westfield over the past year,” Oliveira said. “The ability to get a bed is concerning because baby boomers are a large demographic.”

MPs expressed hope that an investigation would ensure that all those entitled to wages were paid promptly and that reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the factory would be investigated.

In addition, lawmakers want an investigation to assess staffing levels and their impact on residents, as well as BluPoint Healthcare’s financial practices and compliance with contractual and legal obligations to the city of South Hadley and other providers.

The facility owes South Hadley alone $160,000, lawmakers said.

Oliveira said that despite the concerns, the municipality has supported staff and residents and sent donations and supplies, “but this should not be the case.”

Oliveira said he is seeing a trend where private providers or for-profit investors come in, make quick money and leave without fulfilling their responsibilities related to care.

One of the most highly penalized institutions in the state

From June 2021 to June 2024, the facility was fined $338,238 by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, making it the 12th-highest-financing nursing home in the state. It is the third-highest-financing nursing home in Western Massachusetts, behind Highview of Northampton and Vantage at Wilbraham.

CMS has identified 95 deficiencies in standard inspections and complaint investigations since June 2021.

The last standard inspection was completed in November 2022. This report identified eight quality of life and care deficiencies, eight resident rights deficiencies and three infection control deficiencies, among others. This inspection took place before BluPoint began operating the care home last year.

Since BluPoint took over the facility, there have been two complaint investigations by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, each highlighting problems. In November 2023, investigators found that the facility had failed to adequately treat a resident’s pressure ulcer.

A July 2023 investigation into the complaint found that the facility failed to keep a resident’s medical records confidential and failed to discharge a patient safely. The previous month, a resident was discharged from the nursing home with the wrong medications – medications that had not been prescribed to the discharged person. An internal facility investigation prompted by regulators found that a family member of the person had administered the medication, after which the person “experienced a change in mental status” and was taken to the hospital by ambulance, according to the CMS report.

According to federal data, the turnover rate among nursing staff is about 20 percent higher than the national average.

Currently, the federal government has listed the facility as a candidate for the Special Focus Facility Program – which requires increased inspections and monitoring until the nursing home improves and “drops out” of the program or has its Medicare and Medicaid eligibility removed. It has been on the candidate list for two years. Massachusetts has two spots in the federal program, and new facilities are admitted from the candidate list into the program when a home drops out or fails.

The company has had various operators over the past few years. Before it changed hands early last year, the facility was owned by Vantage. Before that, Vantage Care purchased it from Vero Health & Rehab in 2022.

In January of last year, shortly before BluPoint took control of the facility, the town of South Hadley placed a $45,000 lien on the property for unpaid taxes, according to a document filed with the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds.

In addition to Pioneer Valley Health & Rehabilitation, BluPoint’s website lists four homes in Massachusetts – Blackstone Valley Health & Rehabilitation in Whitinsville, Mill Town Health and Rehabilitation in Amesbury and Quabbin Valley Healthcare in Athol.

Court records indicate potential financial problems. In February, a laundry and dry cleaning services company filed a lawsuit against BluPoint, Blackstone Valley Health & Rehabilitation and a company owner – Joseph Cuzzupoli – claiming the facility owes more than $400,000 in unpaid bills. The defendants filed an answer denying the allegations.

Last year, a $2.1 million lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court against Cuzzupoli and BluPoint alleging they failed to repay their business loans.

According to federal filings, Cuzzupoli owns 5% of Pioneer Valley Health & Rehabilitation, while the other 95% is owned by an entity called Cuzzupoli Family 2011 Irrevocable Trust.

Oversight and accountability

The Massachusetts Senate is currently considering a 119-page health care reform bill that includes a provision on oversight and accountability of for-profit health care facilities. The bill will return to the agenda on Thursday, Oliveira told The Republican.

If the bill is passed, “organizations will be held accountable and reporting tools will be created that can help prevent such abuses from recurring,” Oliveira said.