Nursing Home & Assisted Living Facility Representation

Our attorneys have extensive experience working with nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, Assisted Living Facilities, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRC”) to address a myriad of legal issues and concerns, ranging from resident payment issues to more complex litigation matters. Our unique and in-depth understanding of the operations of senior care facilities and the challenges they face allows us to tailor our legal services and guidance to the specific needs of our clients.  

How We Assist Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities

We assist our nursing home, assisted living facility, and other senior care community clients with a continuum of legal services that covers everything from the preparation of CMS-compliant Admission Agreements to appearances before the Department of Health for discharge proceedings and everything in between. 

Advocacy and Support for Nursing Homes and Senior Care Communities

Our active involvement in organizations like NYSHFA/NYSCAL and similar advocacy groups allows us to stay informed about the latest developments in laws and regulations impacting the nursing home and senior care industry.  We deeply value the relationships we have built with nursing home and assisted living facility administrators, owners, executive directors, social workers, and discharge planners in the communities we serve. As part of our firm’s ongoing efforts to support our residential healthcare facility clients’ compliance with the evolving legal and regulatory landscape for nursing homes and assisted living facilities, we are there to serve as a sounding board for our clients when issues arise at their facilities, whether offering advice on long-term projects or responding in a moment of crisis when our clients need us most. On a regular basis, we provide in-service training opportunities for facility staff to educate and support them in adopting “best practices” for nursing homes and assisted living communities. 

Admission Agreements and Policies for Healthcare Facilities

We regularly work with our clients to create, review, and update their Admission Agreements and other policies that are integral to the day-to-day operations of these facilities to ensure they are fully compliant with all governing rules and regulations.  

Our attorneys know how important it is for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, senior residential communities and CCRC’s to have solid policies in place, and we work closely with our healthcare facility clients to understand their individual needs and circumstances, and the unique aspects of their facilities, to craft policies and procedures that help our clients reduce risk, maintain compliance and work to achieve both short-term and long-term goals. Learn more about nursing homes’ Admission Agreements and compliance with the updated CMS Guidelines here.

Medical Cannabis and Seniors in Residential Healthcare Facilities

Our attorneys have also been leaders in the industry in their efforts to support facilities in creating medical cannabis programs for residents of nursing homes, often lecturing on the changing laws concerning cannabis in New York and other states, and advocating for increased access to non-narcotic treatments for conditions many seniors residing in residential healthcare facilities suffer from (including pain, cancer, and seizure disorders). We prepare written policies that senior care facilities must have to ensure that their rules and procedures regarding cannabis on the facility’s premises are understood and followed by staff and residents alike, whether a facility chooses to adopt a “cannabis-friendly” or “zero-tolerance” policy when it comes to the consumption of medical cannabis.  

Healthcare Recovery and Reimbursement 

One of the biggest problems facing the nursing home and assisted living industry is an inability to receive adequate payment or reimbursement for the invaluable and necessary services these facilities provide to their residents. Our firm excels at addressing this issue by analyzing each case and investigating what pathways to financial recovery or reimbursement will put the facility in the best position to receive the compensation it deserves and needs, in light of the care they provide to seniors. 

Our attorneys can often recover payment for senior care facilities through collections activities and litigation, yielding successful outcomes for clients by prosecuting claims for unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and fraudulent conveyance, when appropriate.  

Given the increasingly restrictive rules and regulations governing nursing home policies and procedures, which impose further challenges upon facilities seeking to recover payment for the services, our attorneys bring the knowledge and expertise necessary for our clients to feel confident that the Admission Agreements that we create and help you implement, and the practices that we guide your staff in performing, are fully compliant with these laws and do not expose your facility to undue risk.   

Medicaid Services for Nursing Home Clients

Even in cases where our attorneys determine that a nonpayment matter cannot be fully addressed through collections efforts, our attorneys can often utilize creative ways to address a facility’s nonpayment issues by assisting the facility in securing payment through the Medicaid program.

Our knowledgeable and tenacious Medicaid attorneys have a proven track record of success in helping their healthcare facility clients obtain favorable results through the securing of payment through the Medicaid program for residents, even in the most challenging cases, who would otherwise be unable to pay the outstanding balances they owe to the facility.  Drawing upon their experience and expertise in handling challenging institutional Medicaid cases, our attorneys work to secure Medicaid benefits coverage for nursing home residents, on the facility’s behalf, whether through the filing of a Medicaid application, a Reconsideration Request, or the appeal of an adverse determination through a Fair Hearing or Article 78 appeal of a Medicaid denial.  

By securing an approval of Medicaid benefits for nursing home residents without an alternate payment source, our attorneys have succeeded in securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in reimbursement to nursing homes for the room, board and care they have provided to their residents, as well as an ongoing payment source for these residents at our clients’ facilities.

Nursing Homes and Guardianship

Sadly, there are many cases where a nonpayment issue arises because a resident is incapacitated and cannot facilitate payment for their room, board, and care without assistance.  In some situations, another person, such as a family member or agent appointed under a Power of Attorney, has taken advantage of the resident’s vulnerability and wrongfully accessed or received the resident’s income or assets. Nursing homes, charged with dutifully caring for these seniors and providing them with the necessities of life and assistance with their activities of daily living, may also be wrongfully deprived of payment due to the resident’s inability to address this type of financial exploitation or loss without significant assistance.

In situations such as these, our attorneys have successfully brought guardianship proceedings on behalf of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in order to secure the appointment of a guardian for the resident. Once a Guardian is appointed, our attorneys work to support the Guardian in addressing the issues concerning the resident, including assisting the Guardian in redirecting the resident’s wrongfully converted assets or income or assisting the Guardian in securing Medicaid benefits for the resident. Through guardianship, our attorneys have been successful in resolving issues concerning the residents’ safety and well-being, bringing much-needed help to these residents, while also fully addressing the issue concerning nonpayment to the facility at the same time.  

Contact Us to Learn How We Can Help Your Facility

Our healthcare attorneys bring the experience, expertise and resources to the nursing home, assisted living and senior care industry that few can offer, and our insight into the issues that directly impact the operations of these healthcare businesses makes our firm the right partner to assist your senior healthcare facility in overcoming its challenges and achieving its financial goals. If you have any legal matters relating to nursing home or assisted living facility representation, please contact us today.