Official Site of The State of New Jersey

TRENTON—The Office of the State Comptroller directed three New Jersey nursing homes to pay Medicaid a total of $2.1 million after reviews revealed serious understaffing in violation of legal requirements.

OSC’s Medicaid Fraud Division reviewed copies of professional licenses, timesheets, and payroll records of three nursing homes for July 2023 and found that all three—Barnegat Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Belle Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and Barclays Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center—failed to meet minimum staffing requirements every single day of the month, according to the letters OSC sent to the facilities, which were released today.

OSC is seeking to recover the funds that Medicaid paid to each facility during July 2023 and because of the pervasiveness and seriousness of the deficiencies, OSC is imposing penalties proportionate to the severity of understaffing. Additionally, OSC will withhold ten percent of future Medicaid payments until the funds are paid back to New Jersey Medicaid.

The facilities have the legal right to challenge OSC’s findings.

New Jersey state law requires one certified nurse’s aide to every eight residents during the day shift; one direct care staff member to every 10 residents during the evening shift; and one direct care staff member to every 14 residents for the night shift. Inadequate staffing correlates to lower quality of care.

OSC reviewed data for all 93 shifts (day, evening, and night shifts) for the 31 days of July 2023 and found the three facilities failed to meet required staffing levels every single day of the month. The Cherry Hill-based Barclays Rehabilitation and Healthcare did not adequately staff 85 of the 93 shifts, and OSC found that one aide continued to work for seven days after their certification had expired. Barnegat Nursing and Rehabilitation Center did not adequately staff 86 of the 93 shifts. The Belle Care facility did not adequately staff 83 of the 93 shifts. Most alarming, for 3 of the 93 shifts, Belle Care did not have any direct care staff members present to care for 82 residents.

OSC is seeking to recover $735,180 from Barclays, $791,380 from Barnegat, and $647,304 from Belle Care.

In late March, OSC sent initial notices to the three facilities, notifying them of OSC’s findings of overpayments and directing them to repay Medicaid and submit corrective action plans. In their responses, the facilities did not refute OSC’s findings and failed to submit corrective action plans, but instead said the staffing mandates are too onerous and therefore unconstitutional. The Health Care Association of New Jersey, which represents the long-term care industry, has sued to overturn the staffing mandates.

“The minimum staffing requirements are clear, and they were put in place because residents rely on nursing home staff for their daily needs,” said Josh Lichtblau, Director of OSC’s Medicaid Fraud Division. “And the numbers don’t lie. We looked at 31 days, and they failed to meet the legal requirements every day. Nursing home residents deserve adequate staffing and the Medicaid program should demand nothing less.”

Read the letters to Barnegat, Belle Care, and Barclays.

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To report government fraud, waste, mismanagement, or corruption, file a complaint with OSC or call 1-855-OSC-TIPS.