nursing homes

A judge has acquitted Jorge Carballo, administrator of Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, of causing the overheating deaths of nine patients after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Prosecutors claim Jorge Carballo abandoned his patients, going home after the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills lost power to its air conditioner during the 2017 storm. Nine people died.

The industry has long relied on immigrants to bolster its ranks, and they’ll be critical to meeting future staffing needs, experts say. But as the baby boom generation fills beds, policymakers are slow to open new pathways for foreign workers.

As the U.S. government debates whether to require higher staffing levels at nursing homes, financial records show some owners routinely push profits to sister companies while residents are neglected.

Many small-town care facilities that remain open are limiting admissions, citing a lack of staff, while a wave of others shutter. That means more patients are marooned in hospitals or placed far away from their families.

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services gives facilities an overall star rating along with details on health care, staffing and quality at its Care Compare website.

The investigations into select nursing homes are aimed at verifying whether patients have been properly diagnosed with the psychiatric disorder.

Deputy Executive Director Bob Asztalos of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs told a state Senate committee that its wages are finally competitive, thanks to a $5.6 million boost in funding last year.

But as assisted living concept has become more popular, residents are now older and sicker than in the past, and a panel of experts is calling for more focus on their medical and mental health needs.

The intensified scrutiny comes nearly two years after COVID-19 exposed subpar care and extreme staffing shortages that had long festered in the facilities.