Sunshine Haven Nursing Operations v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
United States District Court of New Mexico
2016 WL 9777239 (2016)
Sunshine Haven Nursing Operations (Sunshine) (plaintiff), a nursing facility, was found by an administrative law judge to have violated federal regulations in three areas: failing to provide residents proper bathing schedules, a staff member's improper patient-transfer technique that bruised a resident, and insufficient fire-safety equipment including smoke detectors and fire-rated walls. Sunshine took some corrective steps for each violation but faced ongoing questions about whether those corrections established substantial compliance, and the Department of Health and Human Services (defendant) upheld penalties and terminated Sunshine's Medicare/Medicaid agreement; Sunshine challenged the penalties in federal district court.
Whether a healthcare facility may be penalized for failure to comply with federal regulations if it does not demonstrate, by a preponderance of the evidence, that it substantially complied with those regulations.