California nursing home chain gets government regulations smackdown

California's largest nursing home owner, Brius Healthcare Services, is catching fire from government regulators for several alleged violations. Already, five of Brius' facilities have been decertified by the federal government and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to The Sacramento Bee.

“What we’re seeing at the Brius locations is quite concerning,” Molly Davies, administrator of Los Angeles’ long-term care ombudsman program, told The Sacramento Bee. “We have seen patterns of poor care, patterns of substandard care in some of these facilities.”

Davies added that her staff witnessed a “flagrant disregard for human life” in several facilities.

Brius, founded in 2006, is owned by Shlomo Rechnitz, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, according to The Bee. Rechnitz has said he believes the government is unfairly cracking down on his 81 nursing homes (he owns about 1 in every 14 nursing home beds in the state).

"All of a sudden, we show up to court one day and there is an emergency motion that refers to us as a quote-unquote serial violator of laws," Rechnitz told The Bee. "It questions if we would pass the good character requirement. It basically makes us look like the Charles Manson of the nursing home business."

Click here to read The Sacramento Bee's in-depth story.

Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.