On
May 3, 2021, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed Senate Bill 1282, which would
have reauthorized the Board of Examiners of Nursing Care Institution
Administrators and Assisted Living Facility Managers (Board) for eight
years. The veto letter cites “a disturbing and heartbreaking
investigation by the Arizona Republic . . . into this Board that showed the
Board is failing its duty.”[1]
The Board, made up primarily of administrators, licenses nursing home
administrators and oversees the licensees.[2]
On
May 2, 2021, The Arizona Republic reported
that the Board, after about a six-minute discussion, had approved a nursing
home administrator license in February 2020 for Larry Michael Rasmussen,
despite the fact that Rasmussen had two felony convictions for fraud and had
opened a bank account with the name of a Japanese pharmaceutical company and
deposited, and tried to use, a $1.7 million check from Walgreens payable to the
company, among other activities that should have disqualified him.[3] Rasmussen had
worked in a long-term care facility for less than a year at the time he was
given an administrator license.
Four
months later, state investigators found that Rasmussen and his management team
had required employees who had tested positive for COVID-19 to continue working
at the short-staffed facility. By July 2020, more than 50 residents had
become infected with COVID-19 and at least 15 had died. Rasmussen was replaced
as administrator.
Nursing
home administrators are key employees responsible for management of their
facilities.[4]
While this may be an exceptionally troublesome case, the Center for Medicare
Advocacy has expressed ongoing concerns about state licensure requirements and
federal certification requirements for owners and managers of nursing
facilities. The Arizona experience reminds us of the critical importance
of administrators and the processes that licenses them.
___________________
[1] Office of the
Governor Doug Ducey, “Governor Ducey Takes Action To Protect Arizona Seniors”
(News Release, May 3, 2021); Caitlin McGlade, “After Republic investigation,
governor shutters state board that licensed a felon to run nursing home where
15 died,” The Arizona Republic
(May 4, 2021).
[2] Arizona Board of
Examiners of Nursing Care Institution Administrators and Assisted Living
Facility Managers, http://www.aznciaboard.us/
[3] Arizona Revised
Code 36-446.94.A.1-4, https://casetext.com/statute/arizona-revised-statutes/title-36-public-health-and-safety/chapter-4-health-care-institutions/article-6-licensing-of-nursing-care-institution-administrators-and-certification-of-assisted-living-facilities-managers/section-36-44604-qualifications-period-of-validity-exemption
[4] 42 C.F.R.
§483.70(d)(2)
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