The Suites Rio Vista
The Suites Rio Vista is a skilled nursing facility in Rio Rancho that suffers from severe staff shortages and a record of deficiencies that amount to nursing home abuse and neglect. Levin & Perconti helps victims of nursing home abuse at The Suites Rio Vista pursue significant compensation.
Quick Links
- About The Suites Rio Vista
- The Suites Rio Vista Ratings
- Understaffing at The Suites Rio Vista
- Health Violations at The Suites Rio Vista
- 2022 Annual Health Inspection
- Care Quality at The Suites Rio Vista
- What to Do If You Suspect Abuse at The Suites Rio Vista
- Why Levin & Perconti Is the Best Choice for Your Nursing Home Abuse Case
The Suites Rio Vista has a legal obligation to provide residents with quality care in a safe, homelike environment. Nursing home abuse and neglect violate these standards and constitute medical malpractice. If you or your loved one has experienced maltreatment at The Suites Rio Vista, a Rio Rancho nursing home abuse lawyer at Levin & Perconti can help.
About The Suites Rio Vista
The Suites Rio Vista is a 136-bed for-profit nursing home owned by Eduro Healthcare LLC. It provides the following services:
- Bariatric care
- Cardiopulmonary therapy
- Long-term skilled nursing care
- Occupational therapy
- Outpatient therapy
- Physical therapy
- Post-orthopedic care
- Speech therapy
- Respite services
The Suites Rio Vista is located at:
2410 19th Street, SE
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Phone: (505) 452-4200
The Suites Rio Vista Ratings
The Suites Rio Vista is rated 14 out of 17 facilities within a 10-mile radius and 18 out of 21 facilities within a 25-mile radius by Nursing Home Database. It has a 3.7-star rating on Google reviews and a one-star rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Understaffing at The Suites Rio Vista
Residents at The Suites Rio Vista receive an average of three hours and three minutes of direct nursing care per resident per day. The national average is three hours and 45 minutes. The majority of direct care is provided by CNAs.
Each Suites Rio Vista resident receives an average of 29 minutes of registered nurse (RN) care per day compared to 40 minutes nationwide with above-average time from licensed practical nurses (LPNs). LPNs are not as highly trained as RNs, and nursing homes should not substitute LPN care for RN care.
Understaffing in nursing homes has been linked to a higher incidence of nursing home abuse and reduced quality of care.
Health Violations at The Suites Rio Vista
The Suites Rio Vista had 18 inspections from 2014 to 2022. Facilities receive more than one inspection in a year when the state receives complaints or a facility has a history of nursing home abuse, neglect, or quality deficiencies. The Suites Rio Vista has paid five federal fines totaling $98,407 in the last three years.
The Suites Rio Vista had two complaint inspections in 2022 in addition to the annual health inspection. Inspections during the last year have resulted in 31 deficiencies. The national average is 8.5 deficiencies. Eleven complaints resulted in citations during the past three years, and one infection control inspection resulted in four citations.
2022 Annual Health Inspection
The annual health inspection on August 31, 2022, resulted in numerous citations for deficiencies in protecting residents’ dignity, meeting their needs, and providing quality care.
Resident Rights
The Suites Rio Vista failed to respect residents’ dignity, self-determination, and rights to communicate their needs as demonstrated by the following actions:
- Not serving meals to residents at the same time as their tablemates
- Referring to residents as “heavy wetters,” “burdens,” and “feeders”
- Failing to ensure residents’ call lights are within reach
- Failure to assist at least one resident in need of assistance with showers according to the resident’s preferred schedule and frequency
- Failure to allow the resident council to meet privately
- Failure to allow residents to easily review inspection results
- Failure to timely respond to grievances
- Failure to provide meaningful individualized activities for all three residents reviewed
- Failure to honor all residents’ food choices
Resident Neglect
The Suites Rio Vista was cited for the following deficiencies related to neglect and poor quality of care:
- Failure to timely provide the five-day follow-up report to the state involving the neglect of a resident whose incontinence pads were not changed for three hours and who was not given her nighttime medications
- Failure to follow professional standards of quality by not dating and changing oxygen tubing weekly per doctor’s orders
- Failure to provide assistance with showers for at least three residents, a deficiency that was also a subject of the complaint inspection on the same date
- Failure to provide treatment according to orders for four of four residents reviewed, including timely medication administration, oxygen while in the shower, and nebulizer treatments, a complaint that was also cited on the complaint inspection on the same date
- Failure to use pressure-relieving devices as ordered for pressure ulcer care
- Failure to take measures to prevent a resident from falling out of bed
Medication Errors
The Suites Rio Vista received citations for the following deficiencies related to medication:
- Failure to provide a resident with pain medication, resulting in the resident experiencing severe pain for an extended period with staff telling the resident the facility ran out
- Failure to properly document the administration of a narcotic medication
- Failure to ensure medication was not expired and properly stored
Sanitation Violations
The Suites Rio Vista was cited for unsafe and unsanitary food storage and a dirty resident restroom.
The food storage deficiencies include the following:
- Unlabeled and undated food
- Improper freezer storage
- Missing thermometer in nourishment freezer
- Unclean nourishment refrigerator
- Expired foods in dry storage
At least one resident’s bathroom was dirty with unflushed urine and old, dried feces on the wall. The resident told the inspector she would attempt to clean the restroom herself and that it was only cleaned once weekly instead of daily per policy. These conditions were observed by the inspector and remained unchanged for three consecutive days during the inspection.
Care Plan Deficiencies
The Suites Rio Vista failed to assess residents as required and develop complete care plans, with the following deficiencies noted:
- Failure to update a resident’s assessments at least once every three months
- Failure to ensure each resident’s assessment was accurate
- Failure to include dementia in a resident’s care plan, resulting in nursing staff being unaware the resident had dementia
- Failure to develop a complete care plan within seven days of the comprehensive assessment of a resident who refused to wear a COVID mask and was not fully vaccinated
May 2022 Complaint Inspection
The complaint inspection on May 6, 2022, revealed the following deficiencies:
- Failure to provide timely transportation of a resident to the hospital for treatment
- Failure to assist residents with showers according to their preferred schedules
- Failure to notify a resident’s power of attorney and physician of a resident’s increased need for oxygen
- Failure to maintain a clean facility that is free of clutter
- Failure to implement a plan to meet new residents’ needs within 48 hours of admission
- Administering oxygen to a resident without a physician’s orders
- Failure to provide a resident with timely medication for pain management
- Delaying antibiotic medication treatment by several hours
Infection Control Inspection
The infection control inspection on May 6, 2022, resulted in citations for failure by staff to wear the required personal protective equipment and for staff dropping personal protective equipment on the floor in a unit hallway.
Care Quality at The Suites Rio Vista
The Suites Rio Vista has an overall quality rating of three out of five stars, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) considers average, but the facility is below average in several areas that are concerning.
Short-Stay Care Quality Concerns
Short-term residents at The Suites Rio Vista are significantly more likely to be re-hospitalized than the national and state averages, with a rate of 36.4 percent compared to a national rate of 22.1 percent and a state rate of 19 percent. Short-stay residents at this facility are also more likely to visit an outpatient emergency department than the national average.
Bedsores are slightly more common at The Suites Rio Vista than the national average, with a 3.4 percent occurrence compared to 2.8 percent.
Long-Stay Care Quality Concerns
CMS has found that 11.2 percent of the long-term residents at The Suites Rio Vista develop bedsores, compared to 8.1 percent nationwide and 8.2 percent statewide. This is a red flag of neglect.
Approximately 2.5 percent of residents at The Suites Rio Vista have an indwelling catheter, exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. As many as 51.9 percent of residents at this facility lose control of their bowels or bladder, compared to 47.2 percent nationwide and 42.7 percent statewide.
An alarming 16.8 percent of long-term residents at The Suites Rio Vista lose too much weight, while this only affects 6.2 percent of residents nationwide and seven percent throughout the state.
What to Do If You Suspect Abuse at The Suites Rio Vista
If you suspect abuse at The Suites Rio Vista, a nursing home abuse lawyer in Rio Rancho can help you report the abuse to state and local authorities and potentially file a nursing home abuse lawsuit against The Suites Rio Vista. You will also need to contact the following authorities:
- New Mexico Division of Health Improvement, (800) 752-8649
- Adult Protective Services Statewide Intake, (866) 654-3219
- New Mexico Long-Term Care Ombudsman, (866) 451-2901
- Rio Rancho Police Department, (505) 891-7226
In the event of an emergency, call 911. As soon as an injury occurs, it’s also important to contact an experienced New Mexico elder abuse lawyer.
Why Levin & Perconti Is the Best Choice for Your Nursing Home Abuse Case
Levin & Perconti was one of the first law firms to stand up to nursing home providers that failed to protect their residents by allowing nursing home abuse and neglect to occur. Our Rio Rancho nursing home abuse lawyers have a proven track record of winning significant settlements and verdicts against large, powerful nursing home companies.
Below are a few examples of our successful case results:
- $4.1 million record-breaking jury verdict for an 85-year-old nursing home resident injured as a result of medication mismanagement
- $2.7 million jury verdict for the family of a deceased 67-year-old man who died from complications from a fall at a nursing home
- $2.8 million record settlement for a 59-year-old nursing home resident who developed multiple infected bedsores that took four years to heal
- $1.4 million verdict for the family of a 79-year-old nursing home resident who died as a result of a violent encounter with another resident after a nursing home failed to manage the other resident’s behavior
If you or your loved one has been injured as a result of nursing home abuse at The Suites Rio Vista, you may be entitled to substantial compensation. Contact Levin & Perconti today for a free, confidential case evaluation.
Legally Reviewed by
Steven M. Levin
Contact Us
- Free Consultation
- (312) 332-2872
Notable Results
VERDICT
on behalf of an 85-year-old woman injured in a nursing home when her medications were mismanaged.
VERDICT
for the estate of a 67-year-old man who died from complications related to a fall
SETTLEMENT
for a 59-year-old resident who developed multiple painful and infected bedsores which took four years to heal.
