Inn at Menorah Park fined $20,000 in settlement with state AG

DeWITT, N.Y. — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that he has reached a settlement with the Inn at Menorah Park after an investigation found it was operating as an unlicensed adult-care facility.

The Inn at Menorah Park must pay a $20,000 fine to the state of New York., as part of the agreement.

Adult-care facilities are not permitted to operate without first obtaining an operating certificate from the New York State Department of Health, Schneiderman’s office said in a news release.

The Inn at Menorah Park operates at 4101 E. Genesee St. in DeWitt.

The settlement also calls for the Inn at Menorah Park to retain a monitor immediately to assist in evaluating and assessing its compliance with its responsibilities as a residential adult-care facility, Schneiderman’s office said.

The Inn must also restructure its board of directors. The new board will be made up of at least five members, the majority of whom have not previously served on the board.

In addition, the facility is required to create a new fund to assist individuals who otherwise would not financially qualify for admission to the Inn at Menorah Park.

The assistance fund will be initially funded with no less than $110,000, Schneiderman’s office said.

“It is important that families who entrust adult-care facilities with the welfare of their loved ones have every assurance that such facilities are safe and compliant with state law,” Schneiderman said in the news release. “[This] settlement will bring this facility into compliance with the law and help ensure the quality of care families and patients expect.”

The Business Journal News Network requested comment from the Inn at Menorah Park about the settlement but the facility didn’t immediately respond.

The settlement resolves a multi-year investigation that the New York State Department of Health and the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud-control unit had conducted into allegations that the Inn at Menorah Park was operating as an unlicensed adult-care facility at a time when its application to become a certified adult-care facility had been rejected, according to Schneiderman’s office.

The investigation found that the management of the Inn at Menorah Park continued to operate with home-health aides in a form consistent with the operation of an adult-care facility; however, it did so without the approval and oversight of the state Health Department, the office added.

Before becoming a certified adult-care facility, an applicant must first meet “numerous requirements” for the safety and well-being of the residents, not only in the physical location, but also in the “planned, appropriate” medical care offered to the residents.

The “significant” delay between the time the Inn at Menorah Park first began to operate and the time at which it met the requirements and qualifications for becoming a certified adult-care facility “gave rise to the investigation and justifies the significant fine,” Schneiderman’s office contended in the release.

The Inn received its certification in October.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com