On June 10, 2024, the Attorney General of Massachusetts announced a $4 million settlement with Next Step Healthcare, LLC (“Next Step”), a Woburn-based long-term care management company that operates sixteen nursing homes in Massachusetts. The settlement, which is the largest nursing home settlement ever reached by the Office of the Attorney General, resolves allegations that Next Step deliberately failed to properly staff the nursing homes it owned and operated, resulting in resident harm and neglect. As part of the settlement, most of Next Step’s facilities will be required to be overseen, at Next Step’s own expense, by an independent compliance monitor.
Next Step, co-founded and co-owned by Damien Dell’Anno and William Stephan, owns, operates, and manages 16 nursing homes throughout Massachusetts, including in Attleboro, Fall River, Fitchburg, Lee, Malden, Melrose, Middleborough, Norwood, Plymouth, Taunton, Walpole, West Newton, Westborough, and Worcester.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Next Step agreed to budget staffing at state-mandated levels and pay an additional $4 million to resolve the allegations. $750,000 of those settlement funds will be paid to the Commonwealth, which will evenly distribute the amount to MassHealth and the Long-Term Care Facility Quality Improvement Fund, a DPH-operated fund that aims to improve the quality of care delivered to residents of long-term care facilities. The remaining $3.25 million will be overseen by the independent compliance monitor and must be used for additional staffing improvements, recruitment, retention, additional benefit costs, bonuses, overtime, wage increases, and/or other staffing-related initiatives over the next three years.
In addition to the monetary penalties, Next Step agreed to hire, at its own expense, an independent compliance monitor, who will oversee the improvement of Next Step’s staffing levels and ensure that Next Step’s facilities comply with state staffing requirements. The compliance monitor will also be responsible for reviewing the quality of care delivered to residents at eight Next Step facilities. As part of the settlement, the compliance monitor will conduct on-site reviews of Next Step’s facilities and will submit compliance reports to the Office of the Attorney General every six months.
The settlement resolves the Office of the Attorney General’s allegations that Next Step implemented staffing reductions in April 2019, despite its facilities already struggling to ensure adequate staffing levels to meet the needs of residents. Those staffing reductions included reductions of both certified nursing assistant (“CNA”) positions and non-CNA positions. The Office of the Attorney General alleged that Next Step implemented such reductions without consideration of patient needs.
The Office of the Attorney General further alleged that Next Step continued to understaff its facilities even after state regulations went into effect in April 2021 requiring certain staffing requirements. As a result, many of Next Step’ nursing facilities had staffing levels that ranked in the bottom 10% of their counties.
The Office of the Attorney General alleged that the low staffing levels at Next Step’s facilities led to resident neglect and harm.
The Office of the Attorney General also contended that Next Step’s submission of claims to MassHealth for these substandard services were false claims, in violation of the Massachusetts False Claims Act, and that this conduct also violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, and a state statute protecting elders from abuse and neglect in nursing homes.
If you or a loved one suffered injuries (or worse) while a resident of a nursing home in Massachusetts or in another U.S. state due to nursing home understaffing, nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence, nursing home abuse, or the nursing home failing to properly care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find a nursing home claim lawyer in Massachusetts or a nursing home claim lawyer in your state who may investigate your nursing home claim for you and file a nursing home claim on your behalf or behalf of your loved one, if appropriate.
Visit our website to be connected with medical malpractice attorneys (nursing home claim attorneys) in your U.S. state who may assist you with your nursing home claim, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959.
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