Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

SEIU 1199 wins fight for CT nursing home transparency law

  • Health
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • May 6, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"
Sen. John P. McKinney talking to Sen. Gayle Slossberg.

CT MIrror

Sen. John P. McKinney talking to Sen. Gayle Slossberg.

SEIU 1199 New England, a union closely allied with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, won final passage early Tuesday of new financial reporting rules for nursing homes, a reaction to the union’s long, continuing fight with HealthBridge Management, a company that has claimed financial distress to escape contract obligations.

The Senate voted 24 to 11 to create a Nursing Home Financial Advisory Committee to regularly examine the financial solvency and quality of care of nursing homes.

Senate Minority Leader John P. McKinney, R-Fairfield, and two other GOP senators, Kevin Witkos of Canton and John Kissel of Enfield, joined all 21 Democrats present in support. Democrat Andrea Stillman of Waterford was absent. It passed the House last week, 86 to 57, without a single Republican vote.

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, whose district is home to one of the five union and three non-union facilities managed by HealthBridge in Connecticut, said she originally was skeptical about the need for the bill, but she eventually concluded that the state Department of Social Services did not have the means to properly monitor the company’s finances.

“DSS couldn’t really tell if it was financially distressed at all,” said Slossberg, who defended the bill during a debate of more than four hours. “I really think this is a necessary thing to do.”

Slossberg said HealthBridge misled the state, the public and the union about its financial condition, a pretext to break union contracts. The company says it was losing money on the Connecticut homes under union contracts, but the union and the National Labor Relations Board say the company fabricated its losses by self-dealing among related companies.

The bill requires every for-profit nursing home that receives state funding to include with its cost report to the Department of Social Services an annual profit and loss statement from any related party that receives $50,000 or more for providing goods, fees and services to the nursing home.

HealthBridge unilaterally eliminated pensions, boosted employee health costs and changed rules to reduce overtime, sparking a strike in 2012. The company said its finances left it no choice but to make the cuts or close some homes.

A bankruptcy judge in New Jersey has ruled for the company, saying it should be allowed to dissolve its labor contracts. But a federal judge in Hartford, Robert N. Chatigny, has upheld the NLRB’s finding of unfair labor practices and held the company in contempt for refusing orders to rehire striking workers and restore benefits. The case is under appeal.

HealthBridge says it is a victim of a politically connected union, whose picketers have been joined at times by Malloy and other Democratic politicians. The company has sued SEIU, accusing it of racketeering.

“The SEIU has never hesitated to cozy up to politicians, providing them with both on-the-ground organizational support and all-important financial support,” HealthBridge says on its website. The union says the claim is “ridiculous” and without foundation.

Matthew V. Barrett, who represents the industry, watched the Senate debate Monday night from the west gallery, while SEIU’s president, David Pickus, and other union representatives faced him from the east gallery. Both galleries were nearly empty of spectators.

The bill is an overreaction to one company’s labor fight, Barrett said. The industry tried and failed to convince the legislature to narrow the reporting requirements and rely on evidence of financial distress to go deeper as warranted, he said.

“We should have come up with a solution to address HealthBridge,” he said.

Republicans echoed Barrett in their floor debate.

“It’s random digging,” said Sen. Joseph Markley, R-Southington. “This bill as written is an injustice to the corporations.”

“If HealthBridge is the bad apple, then we have to deal with the bad apple,” said Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury.

Pickus said the bill is a reaction to the evolution of the nursing home industry, where inter-related companies now are the norm. With the state providing about $1.6 billion in Medicaid payments to the industry, closer financial oversight is overdue, regardless of SEIU’s fight with HealthBridge, he said.

“We’re not getting any unfair advantage,” he said of the new law.

Pickus said the law requires HealthBridge and other companies that rely on tax dollars to be more financially transparent. The industry operates 221 homes in Connecticut; 75 are unionized.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
What we’ve lost, what we’ve learned during our year of COVID
by CT Mirror Staff

On March 6, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the first case of COVID-19 had been detected in Connecticut, and within weeks, life as we knew it was a memory. Schools were shut down, universities emptied, businesses shuttered. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be able to work from home set up shop at our […]

Plan to expand child tax credit offers hope along with direct payments
by Lisa Backus | C-HIT.ORG

When her car started making a noise more than a year ago, Chinara Johnson parked the vehicle and hasn’t used it since. As a New Haven mother of 5-year-old twin boys, one of whom is on the autism spectrum, and an 8-year-old daughter, Johnson doesn’t have the money to get the car running properly again. […]

Republicans on key committee oppose no-excuse absentee ballot voting
by Mark Pazniokas

Republicans signaled Friday they will try to block fast-track action on a constitutional amendment allowing no-excuse voting by absentee ballot.

Aid-in-dying bill clears key hurdle with committee passage
by Jenna Carlesso

The bill would let terminally ill patients access medication to end their lives.

Ned Lamont’s year in the shadow of COVID
by Mark Pazniokas

Ned Lamont has been the face, voice, and interpreter of the COVID crisis, mourning deaths, explaining setbacks and cautiously celebrating.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Assisted suicide lobby spreads falsehoods to promote systemic ableism
by Stephen Mendelsohn

Proponents of assisted suicide repeatedly spread falsehoods to promote their lethal and ableist agenda.  The February 8 op-ed, “Aid in dying is not assisted suicide” is no exception. Suicide is defined as the act of taking one’s life intentionally.  The person who intentionally ingests a prescribed lethal overdose more closely fits the dictionary definition of suicide than the despondent person who jumps off a bridge.  The desire for suicide is a cry for help, even when redefined as a “medical treatment option.”

Opinion TCI will create a fourth gasoline tax
by Christian A. Herb

The Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, calls for a proposed emissions fee on gasoline to help battle climate change. On the surface, supporters say it is a small price to pay to help save the planet; and if you truly believe that this is the case, then you should consider voting for it. Despite the administration’s efforts to go out of their way to not call TCI a tax, the simple truth is that it will only create additional financial hardships on lower- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

Opinion Let’s keep telehealth when the pandemic ends
by Steven Madonick, MD

Telehealth may lead to positive, even transformational changes in psychiatric care, and Connecticut needs to keep it after the pandemic. Connecticut needs to pass the necessary laws to continue telehealth and telephonic care.

Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO