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RULES VIOLATIONS WILL COST MINNEAPOLIS

VETERANS HOME $671,000 -- "We don't really have

a choice. We have to do this, spend the money."

 

Minneapolis, Minnesota veterans home

 

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Rules violations will cost Minneapolis Veterans Home $671,000

The Associated Press

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- The board that runs the Minneapolis Veterans Home agreed Thursday to spend an extra $671,000 over the next year as it seeks to resolve rule violations and complaints of inadequate health care.

The spending includes $546,000 for another year of consulting work and up to $125,000 that will go to the Minnesota Department of Health for an outside monitor who the department will select to keep close tabs on the troubled home.

In return, the 402-bed facility can continue to operate.

Over the past two years, the state has cited the home for 67 rule violations and fined it $42,300 when nine of them weren't corrected on time. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs found 33 violations last year.

"We don't really have a choice. We have to do this, spend the money," said Jeff Johnson, chairman of the Minnesota Veterans Homes Board, which operates five facilities at an annual cost of about $80 million - including $36 million for the Minneapolis home.

"But we are not sacrificing care to pay for these services," he said. "We're improving care, and making sure the improvements will stick this time."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered the board in 2005 to hire a consultant to assess care at the five veterans homes. The consultant, Health Dimensions Group of Minneapolis, found care and leadership problems in Minneapolis, but no major problems at homes in Luverne, Silver Bay, Fergus Falls and Hastings.

Last February, after inspectors found that three veterans at the Minneapolis home died after neglect or medical errors, Pawlenty ordered the Health Department to begin monitoring its day-to-day operations until a consultant could take over. Health Dimensions became that consultant.

The governor also set up a commission to investigate how to resolve decades of regulatory problems at the Minneapolis home and whether the system is governed properly. That commission expects to complete its work next month.

Under the board's agreement with the Health Department on Thursday, the home will be given a two-year conditional license, which can be revoked if serious problems re-emerge.

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Larry Scott  --