“Atrocious care” at facilities tied to Rauner
If Bruce Rauner plans to run Illinois like his firm ran facilities for the most vulnerable members of society, the people of Illinois should be very scared.
That’s the message being delivered by Margaret Niederer, a former Illinois Long Term Care Regional Ombudsman, in an op-ed in the State Journal-Register. The long-time advocate for senior citizens writes senior citizens and people with developmental disabilities received “atrocious care” at facilities owned by GTCR, the private-equity firm Rauner helped found.
Niederer references a recent report in The Southern that detailed “death and mistreatment of residents” at homes owned by American Habilitation Services (AHS). The company was launched by GTCR when Rauner served as chairman – two GTCR colleagues were placed on the AHS board.
“Illinois voters recently learned from news reports the gruesome stories of sexual abuse, assault and death at facilities for people with developmental disabilities owned by another company Rauner’s firm created,” Niederer wrote. “These crimes were so horrendous that one of the facilities was shut down by the state of Texas.”
The news of deplorable treatment at GTCR-owned homes for people with developmental disabilities came after well-publicized accounts of mistreatment at nursing homes owned by GTCR. Niederer notes that residents of GTCR-owned homes suffered “preventable deaths because of avoidable falls, pressure ulcers and infections.”
Rauner has refused to accept any blame or responsibility for these incidents, saying he didn’t play a direct role in managing the facilities. Niederer tears apart this argument:
"I am all too familiar with long-term care companies skirting their responsibility of providing person-centered care to their patients. Horrendous incidents like this don’t happen repeatedly by accident. They occur in poorly run facilities owned by companies that value profit margins over the lives and well-being of residents.
"Rauner and his investor buddies cut staff, which subsequently led to poor patient care. I have seen first-hand the effects of this scheme before. Residents are left frightened for their safety and personal well-being and, inevitably, a resident unnecessarily suffers or even dies from lack of care."
Rauner now claims he’s going to run Illinois like a business – yet when he was in charge of companies that should have been helping vulnerable members of society, people suffered dire consequences while Rauner got off scott-free.
“Rauner says he will come to Springfield and run it like a business,” Niederer writes. “If the morally bankrupt and slipshod manner in which he ran his health-care companies is any indication of how he will run government agencies, including the Illinois Department of Public Health, which is responsible for oversight of long-term care facilities, then this is indeed, a very scary situation.”