An Iowa nursing home cited in October for 18 federal and four state regulatory violations is now facing at least $685,000 in fines, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Dec. 3.
The QHC Fort Dodge Villa Care Center in Webster County houses about 75 residents and has recently been added to the CMS special-focus facility list, a national directory of care facilities with some of the lowest records of regulatory compliance.
Fort Dodge is one of two special-focus facilities in Iowa run by QHC Management of Clive, owned by Jerry and Nancy Voyna. The company operates eight nursing homes and two assisted living facilities providing care for about 500 people.
Inspectors visited the nursing home in August after 10 complaints and subsequently issued a 199-page inspection report listing all of the regulatory violations found at the facility. All of the complaints were substantiated in the report, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
Violations at the facility included failure to provide quality care, failure to employ adequate staffing, failure to provide adequate COVID-19 testing and screening and more.
Since the report, Fort Dodge has been fined each day it has remained out of compliance with minimum healthcare standards. At one point, daily fines of nearly $9,000 per day were assessed at the facility. .
State officials said Dec. 3 the total amount of fines won't be determined until "the facility comes into substantial compliance with all government regulations," according to Iowa Capital Dispatch.