A company in South Carolina is responsible for a third of all deaths in nursing homes due to COVID-19 in May, but the state health department said it found no problems with the company’s facilities.
In May alone, 23 residents of PruittHealth’s facilities died of coronavirus disease, according to a data review from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Despite the high death toll, DHEC does not plan any disciplinary action. An agency spokeswoman said state health inspectors visited 11 PruittHealth facilities “and we found no significant problems that required immediate action”.
A statewide record was published earlier this month, when DHEC finished testing all nursing home residents and state employees. The personal data of people who died in the care of PruittHealth are not available to the public.
But federal government reports show problems at PruittHealth’s facilities with infection control and cleaning. The Georgia-based company has nursing homes across the Southeast.
Some of the PruittHealth facilities where COVID-19 deaths occurred have histories of health inspection assessments below the average for the federal Medicare agency.
At PruittHealth’s Walterboro nursing home, where 10 residents died, inspectors noted a series of problems in a January 2019 report that culminated in a score of 2 out of 5.
Between patient privacy, record keeping and medical citations, the researchers also wrote that the team had mishandled dirty sheets, an infection control risk.
At PruittHealth’s Ridgeway facility, inspectors wrote last April that the floors in a room were “so sticky to walk on that they literally pulled off the surveyor’s shoe.” A resident’s wheelchair was dirty and cracked, the bed frames rusty and there was mold on the ceiling.
Twelve patients died at the Ridgeway nursing home in COVID-19; the facility has an overall rating of four stars with Medicare.
And at the Blythewood facility in Columbia, where 10 patients died from the pandemic, inspectors observed poor food safety, writing: “The food cutter was dirty with visible pieces of food” and cataloged several cases of residents who did not receive a showering since they were admitted.
In a statement, PruittHealth said that five of its nursing homes in South Carolina remain on high alert.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of these patients. We offer our most sincere condolences to the patients’ family and loved ones during this difficult period,” wrote the company’s communications department. “These PruittHealth centers have strictly followed the improved infection control protocols, including increasing the frequency of cleaning, postponing community activities, stopping visits, daily screening of staff and patients and restricting staff to only essential staff.”
With 33 since the beginning of April, PruittHealth is also responsible for most deaths of residents of a single company in the state. The company operates 15 nursing homes in South Carolina. Together, its facilities house about 1,700 beds in nursing homes.
By comparison, the state’s largest nursing home operator, National HealthCare Corp. publicly traded, it reported four deaths from COVID-19 at all of its 13 facilities in South Carolina. A similarly large network, Fundamental Administrative Services, saw 18 deaths at its South Carolina properties.
A national picture of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, where the elderly and closed populations are highly susceptible to the virus, remains undefined. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has promised to release information from each state, they have not yet begun to do so, according to AARP.
DHEC is continuously working with nursing homes to review infection control plans, and the agency’s spokeswoman said it is ensuring that preventive measures are taken.
If a COVID-19 case arises in a nursing home, DHEC infection prevention specialists will give specific advice to the institution in question.
Reach Mary Katherine Wildeman at 843-607-4312. Follow her on Twitter @mkwildeman.