Barnegat Nursing Home Seriously Understaffed, NJ Comptroller Says

BARNEGAT, NJ — A Barnegat nursing home is seriously understaffed and must repay nearly $800K to Medicaid as a result, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) said in a release.

Barnegat Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, along with Belle Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (Trenton) and Barclays Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center (Cherry Hill) failed to meet minimum staffing requirements every single day in July 2023, the office's Medicaid Fraud Division found after reviewing copies of professional licenses, timesheets and payroll records.

In New Jersey, requirements are 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.

The office wants the nursing home to repay Medicaid paid to it in July 2023 and because of the "pervasiveness and seriousness of the deficiencies," the office is also imposing a penalty it says is proportionate to the "severity" of the understaffing. Barnegat Nursing is asked to pay $791,380.

All 93 shifts during July 2023 were reviewed by the office. They found that Barnegat Nursing and Rehabilitation Center did not adequately staff 86 of the 93 shifts, officials said.

A letter was sent to Barnegat Nursing in March, notifying the facility of the findings and 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, officials said. 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.”