Supreme Court Weighs Whether Medicaid Residents Can Sue State-Owned Nursing Homes

The nation’s top court heard arguments in a case this week involving a state-owned nursing home in Indiana.

While it remains to be seen what the Supreme Court’s justices will decide, several members of the court were uncertain whether nursing home Medicaid residents could sue to enforce their rights or if they should pursue other administrative avenues.

Specifically, the court spent time trying to decipher whether the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act allows residents to sue state-run facilities.

Far-reaching questions regarding Medicaid beneficiaries and their rights in federal court were on the table too, though that precedent seems unlikely to be overturned after arguments on Tuesday, according to an Associated Press report.

The original lawsuit alleges that Indiana-based Valparaiso Care & Rehabilitation violated an array of resident “rights” under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1871 provided a venue to enforce those rights.

Andrew Tutt, a lawyer for Talevski’s family, told the court that this particular lawsuit was the family’s “last resort” and that it is a “life-saver for people who cannot actually make effective use” of administrative remedies in the law, according to the AP report.

Gorgi Talevski’s family argued that he was given psychotropic drugs to “chemically restrain” him. The family also contends that once the lawsuit was filed, he was moved to another facility about 50 miles away.

Should a ruling be in Talevski’s favor – where state-owned nursing homes aren’t shielded from federal lawsuits – it could result in more liability for such owners, Lori Proctor, a partner at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, previously told Skilled Nursing News.

With more potential lawsuits coming down the pike – in the event the case goes that way – government entities may be less likely to continue or open government run nursing homes in future, she said.

About 6.5% of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes are owned by state, county or municipal governments, according to data collected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.