Fairfax Nursing Home, Inc. v. U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
300 F.3d 835 (2003)
Fairfax Nursing Home (defendant), a Medicare-regulated skilled nursing facility, violated federal ventilator-care regulations five times over 105 days; three of those violations resulted in resident deaths, and the other two threatened residents' health. HHS (plaintiff) imposed a $3,050-per-day civil monetary penalty for every noncompliant day. An administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld the penalty as reasonable, finding Fairfax had failed to substantially comply with the ventilator-care rules; the Department Appeals Board affirmed, and Fairfax appealed to the Seventh Circuit.
Whether a health care facility is subject to the higher tier of civil monetary penalties when its noncompliance with Medicare regulations places residents' health and safety in immediate jeopardy or reflects systemic, repeated deficiencies.