The Ivy at Davenport is a Scott County nursing home recently cited for “horrible” staffing levels, a lack of bed linens, a rodent infestation and illicit drug use. (Photo via Google Earth)
A Davenport nursing home that is on a federal list of the worst care facilities in the nation could be facing fines of $40,000 or more due to numerous recent violations.
Since 2022, The Ivy at Davenport has been fined more than $200,000 for regulatory violations.
For the past 10 months, the Scott County facility has been eligible of inclusion on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ list of so-called Special-Focus Facilities. The Special-Focus Facilities list is updated periodically by CMS and includes homes deemed by the agency to have “a history of serious quality issues.”
Nationally, there are 88 nursing facilities on the list, with one or two slots filled by each state. Those homes are enrolled in a special program intended to stimulate improvements in their quality of care through increased regulatory oversight.
Because the number of Special-Focus Facilities is capped, new facilities – even those that have earned CMS’ lowest ratings for quality — can’t be named a special-focus facility until other homes in that same state shut down or improve and “graduate” from the program.
That’s a process that can take four years or more. As a result, there are several homes in each state that are designated “eligible” for special-focus status due to their ongoing quality-of-care issues, but they are unable to benefit from actual enrollment in the program.
Iowa generally has 10 nursing homes on the list of eligible facilities.
The Ivy at Davenport was deemed eligible for special-focus status in April 2023, which was a year after state regulators cited the home for 39 regulatory violations, an exceptionally large number. Those violations resulted in $85,318 in federal fines.
In June 2023, the home was cited for 35 violations that resulted in federal fines of $111,040. State inspectors reported medication errors, “horrible” staffing levels, a lack of bed linens, overflowing garbage cans, unsanitary kitchens, a rodent infestation and illicit drug use within the 75-bed facility.
Kitchen ‘flooded’ with floating debris
This week, The Ivy was cited for 17 violations stemming from an inspection last month that resulted in a proposed state fine of $40,500. The state fine is being held in suspension since it may be supplanted by federal fines at a later date.
The inspection last month appears to have been triggered by an incident that involved a resident who wandered from the home and wasn’t noticed to be missing for a full hour. According to state inspectors, the staff allegedly failed to notify the police until another two hours had passed. A half-hour after the police were notified, the resident was found by a citizen 5.6 miles from the home.
The home was also cited for failing to provide a safe environment for residents, failing to meet quality-of-care standards, failure to treat or prevent pressure sores, a lack of timely physician assessments, a lack of competent nursing staff and inadequate infection control.
While at the home, a state inspector observed that the kitchen floor was “heavily flooded” during lunch preparation, with food particles, wrappers, dirt, and debris floating in the water. “White towels placed on the floor in the areas with the water appeared to be heavily saturated, and brown and black in color,” the inspector reported.
In addition, the kitchen freezer was storing food – including ground beef and hamburger patties — at 30 degrees, well above the minimum of 0 degrees. “French toast sticks were soft to the touch and one of the two rolls of ground beef had softened,” the inspector noted.
The Ivy promotes itself as a “premier health care center” that offers “gourmet meals and snacks” for residents.
Federal records indicate the home is owned in part by Ryan Coane, president and CEO of Ivy Healthcare Group. In a recent press release, the company credited Coane for taking “the time out of his busy schedule to visit after the workday to check in on residents.”
Ivy Healthcare Group also operates Silver Oak Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Marion. In 2022, Silver Oak was cited for being so short-staffed the residents were not receiving food or medicine as scheduled. Temporary employees allegedly arrived for work at the home and immediately walked out after seeing how short-staffed the facility was, and a maintenance worker was reportedly tasked with food preparation for residents on restricted diets.
Iowa’s other special-focus facilities
The two Iowa nursing homes that currently have special-focus designation and are receiving additional assistance and oversight from regulators are Aspire of Gowrie and Arbor Court in Mount Pleasant.
In addition to The Ivy, the Iowa homes deemed eligible for special-focus status are Correctionville Specialty Care, Dunlap Specialty Care, Embassy Rehab and Care Center of Sergeant Bluff, Genesis Senior Living of Des Moines, Harmony West Des Moines, Iowa City Rehab & Health Care, Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Care Center of West Des Moines, Via of Des Moines and Westwood Specialty Care of Sioux City.
The Iowa home deemed eligible for the longest period is Genesis Senior Living, which has been on the list for two full years.
Of the 10 eligible facilities in Iowa, three of them – those located in Dunlap, Sioux City and Correctionville — are operated by the West Des Moines chain Care Initiatives.
Typically, all of the homes that are deemed eligible for special-focus designation have about twice the average number of violations cited by state inspectors; they have more serious problems than most other nursing homes, including harm or injury to residents; and they have established a pattern of serious problems that has persisted over a long period of time.
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