FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today announced a $200,000 settlement with Granite Md Opco D/B/A Patapsco Healthcare (“Patapsco”) to settle allegations that Patapsco violated the Maryland False Health Claims Act by providing substandard care to residents at the facility. The settlement includes $100,000 paid by Patapsco to fund a quality improvement plan in which the Office of Attorney General will oversee the facility for four years through regular performance evaluations from a third-party monitoring company. It also includes $100,000 in restitution to the state’s Medicaid program.
“When nursing facilities fail to prevent worsening wounds, repeated preventable falls, or opioid overdoses, these aren't isolated mistakes – they're symptoms of systemic failures that hurt Maryland's most vulnerable,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Strike Force approach empowers multiple State agencies to provide immediate help to residents in crisis while simultaneously securing years of independent monitoring to fix the broken systems that put them at risk.”
Today’s announcement marks the culmination of the investigative efforts by MFVVU including: (1) the utilization of a strike force site visit; (2) interviews of residents; (3) review of survey reports from the Office of Health Care Quality, which documented a myriad of deficiencies; and (4) obtaining and reviewing resident medical records.
The investigation uncovered (1) serious wound care inadequacies leading to hospitalizations; (2) the failure to provide residents with adequate nutrition and hydration (3) regulatory violations compromising patient care; (4) numerous preventable falls; and (5) the failure to prevent residents from overdosing on opiate medications.
The MFVVU determined that these deficiencies were a signal that the Medicaid recipients residing at the Patapsco facility were receiving such substandard care that taxpayers, who paid for the care through the Medicaid program, were being defrauded. To ensure that the care at the facility improves, the MFVVU insisted on the quality improvement agreement as part of the monetary settlement. The quality improvement agreement allows the state to monitor relevant facets of the facility’s day-to-day operations on a regular basis, through the third-party monitoring activities and unfettered access to corporate documents, medical files and staff at the facility. Where continuing problems are uncovered, the facility must make improvements or risk renewed legal exposure.
The investigation in this case benefited from Maryland's innovative Long-Term Care Strike Force, a multi-agency collaborative approach launched by the MFVVU. The Strike Force brings together Adult Protective Services, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and other state resources to conduct unannounced visits to facilities where systemic failures in care have been reported.
During these unannounced, coordinated site visits, Strike Force members provide real-time assistance to residents while also gathering evidence of institutional deficiencies. The Strike Force can quickly assess conditions, coordinate rapid responses, share intelligence among agencies, and hold bad actors accountable. The team addresses both immediate resident needs – including emergency referrals to ensure appropriate assistance and relief – and longer-term systemic problems that require sustained remedies such as the independent monitoring secured as part of the settlement with Patapsco.
The Strike Force approach previously resulted in a $1.28 million settlement with Elkton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Brown thanked Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit Director Zak Shirley, Assistant Attorney General Louise Lock, Investigators Antonnio Hopson and Brittany Leister and Auditor David Minzer for their work on this case.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $6,845,828 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,281,939 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of Maryland.
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