Gov. M. Jodi Rell said that the state may need to take over some nursing homes run by Middletown-based Haven Healthcare because of poor patient care and financial conditions.
State officials also said they are looking into whether company executives illegally used millions of dollars in Medicaid money for business and real estate transactions unrelated to health care, including the launch of Nashville-based Category 5 Records, whose clients include country music star Travis Tritt.
The company has been fined more than 45 times in the past three years by Connecticut and federal health agencies, The Hartford Courant first reported Sunday. Some violations were for allowing patients to become dehydrated, or develop bedsores and infections that led to amputations.
Rell asked the state departments of Social Services and Public Health on Monday to conclude their reviews of Haven Healthcare’s nursing home operations by Dec. 1, so state receivership can be pursued for one or more of the company’s homes, if warranted.
“Unfortunately, it appears receivership may well be the only way to guarantee improvements in the conditions at these homes,” Rell said. “The people of Connecticut deserve to have confidence that the elderly and infirm will be treated with the dignity and compassion they deserve.”
Under receivership, the state puts its own administrator in place to run day-to-day operations and oversee improvements.
Raymond Termini, chief executive officer of Haven Healthcare, said he was shocked and angered by the governor’s actions and what he called “lopsided” media reports. He said he doesn’t expect any of the company’s nursing homes to be placed under state receivership.
“I’m confident that when they’re done concluding their review, they’ll come to learn what our resident families already know — that we provide outstanding and quality care,” he told The Associated Press during a phone interview Monday afternoon.
Termini said his company has acted quickly to address problems found by state investigators, and he insisted that Haven Healthcare’s patient care record is similar to or better than those of other health care companies. He said there are isolated problems in every nursing home.
He also took issue to comments made Monday by state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who told the AP there is evidence that Haven Healthcare officials may have misused millions of dollars in Medicaid money from the state and federal governments.
Blumenthal said the “potential fraud” allegations include failing to pay bills for health care-related expenses and diverting the money for other purposes unrelated to nursing home operations and patient care, including the record company and at least one house that Termini bought.
“The claims in this case relating to possible financial impropriety and health care lapses are serious and significant,” Blumenthal said. “We have under way a fraud investigation and a whistleblower investigation, and we are pursuing both seriously.”
Termini said the company has not misused Medicaid or Medicare funding, and money spent on the record label and his lakefront house in Middlefield came from refinancing some of the company’s properties, which include 15 nursing homes in Connecticut and 10 others in New England.
He said the investment in the record company was made with the belief that some of the profits would be funneled back into nursing home operations. He said the Middlefield home, where he now lives, was initially an investment property for the company, and he later bought it with his own money.
The record company, Category 5, was launched in 2005 and has signed Tritt and other country music acts, including Sammy Kershaw and Shauna. The label is also producing a tribute album to country legend George Jones, who made a deal with the company to sing one of the songs.
A representative for Tritt did not return a message Monday.