Henrico County, Va. — The Henrico County nursing home has been identified as one of the worst long-term care facilities in the country, and is subject to increased surveillance by state and federal regulators due to a “history of serious quality issues.”
Cynthia Jefferson and Sandy Patron see themselves as senior advocates who live at Henrico Health and Rehabilitation Center in the county's East End.
“I start talking to some of these patients and they start telling me these stories: how things were bothering their rooms, how the food turned out,” Jefferson said. “It's like a mad house over there.”
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Their own loved ones had experience in the facility. Patrons said her mother lived there for 100 days in 2023 under Medicare insurance.
“I went every day, she sat in her poop,” recalls the patron.
Jefferson's aunt is a current resident.
“It just happened to me and she was in the bathroom, so she rang the bell and the bell just rang. They never answered the bell.
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Their concerns resemble previous findings in the state's health testing report.
In 2023, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) cited nursing homes for long waits to respond to call bells. One resident told investigators that she would have to wait more than two hours for staff to answer Colebell while she was in pain. VDH also cited facilities that ignored incontinence care that caused skin damage to one resident.
Additionally, the state found that staff had made “serious” medication errors and failed to intervene when residents with reduced pressure ulcers experienced “severe weight loss.”
“How safe are they if you're not taking care of them to make them healthy? And when you're giving them the wrong medicine, when you're not cleaning them, they're getting the pain in the bed,” the patron said.
Between 2023 and 2024, VDH said it cited Henrico Health and Rehabilitation with three “immediate risk” defects.
The nursing home failed to protect two residents from sexual abuse committed by nurse aides in August 2023, according to the testing report. Regarding one of the residents, VDH said, “The facility staff were unable to take steps to protect (residents) from the perpetrators suspected of allowing staff to again abuse the residents.”
Inspectors also found that the facility was broken down due to failure to properly investigate and report the incident, and that staff “severely misrepresented” the allegations against state authorities.
Jefferson said she was the person who notified the family members of the female victim in the incident.
“I found the name of a woman's daughter,” Jefferson said. “I called her and I told her what had happened to her mother and I said, 'You need to get there to see what's going on.' ”
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The federal regulatory agency for nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has administered at least four fines to facilities since 2023, totaling over $200,000.
Medicare is currently flagging facilities with two icons on its website. One icon indicates that the facility is flagged for abuse, while the other indicates “a history of serious quality issues.”
The latter shows that VDH has put Henrico's health and rehabilitation on the list of the worst nursing homes in the country, known as special focus facilities. The list is “reserved for low-performance facilities that rarely address underlying systemic issues that cause repeated cycles of serious defects that pose a risk to the health and safety of residents.
Each state selects at least one nursing home, and selects several additional facilities that are actively enrolled in federal programs and meet the eligibility criteria to notify you for potential registration.
As part of the program, Henrico Health and Rehabilitation experience more frequent testing, escalating penalties, and potential termination from Medicare and Medicaid. The goal is to encourage facilities to improve the quality of care.
“If Medicaid stops paying them, I'm sure they'll put together their actions,” Jefferson said.
“It starts with a company and then tinkers with facility employees and worry more about how they run the facility,” the patron said.
According to license records, Henrico Health and Rehabilitation are run by the American Medical Facilities (MFA), a chain of operating more than 30 other nursing facilities across Virginia.
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As CBS 6 first reported, VDH said the MFA is run by innovative health care management and “all the same people” with mailing addresses listed in New Jersey. VDH said the innovative MFA acquired MFA in 2021.
At the time of its acquisition, the company also owned the Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Prosecutors argued that the facility's patients died in October 2024 from wounds developed as a result of inadequate care.
Innovative also owns the Westport Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and CMS has refused to pay Medicare and Medicaid for new admissions and veteran issues due to “care concerns.”
Of the 603 US nursing home chains recorded in CMS' national database, Innovate ranked 517 based on overall quality rating with 1.8 out of 5 stars. The MFA ranks #413 with a star rating of 2.2.
Jefferson and Patron said they believe increased surveillance by health regulators and scrutiny of Medicare and Medicaid payments will lead to improved care for residents.
“We need to start being more vigilant,” Jefferson said.
“We need to look more at these facilities because that's our loved ones that they are supposed to cherish,” the Patron said.
CBS 6 asked Henrico's Health and Rehabilitation spokesperson to address family concerns, the facility's past compliance history, and CMS assessments for nursing home chains.
Mindie Barnett said, “Since residents' satisfaction is a top priority, we encourage families to reach out to facility management in the area of improvement. As always, many of us are committed to providing exceptional care to residents with complex needs.
