Congressman Carter calls for changes in nursing homes following WTOC Investigation

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -Congressman Buddy Carter is calling for oversight of nursing homes and workforce development, following a WTOC Investigation into nursing home care in the Savannah area.

WTOC Investigates uncovered that Georgia is the fourth most understaffed state in the nation when it comes to nursing homes, and that over half of Savannah-area nursing homes provide substandard care.

READ: Georgia nursing homes are the fourth most understaffed in the nation

“Something needs to be done, because if not, it’s never gonna be a change to the situation. It’s just going to be a revolving door of the same thing going on and on,” says Latifah Bizzard.

We first introduced you to Bizzard several weeks ago as the daughter of Sara Bizzard, who died after developing a bedsore at Riverview Health and Rehabilitation Center in Savannah.

Her story prompted us to take a closer look at who’s held accountable when things go tragically wrong.

READ: Violations persist at local nursing home seven years after resident’s death

“It’s your aunt, it’s your dad, it’s your brother. It’s everyone’s issue. You’ve got to care about it,” says Chad Mance.

Mance is a Savannah personal injury attorney who says he sees nursing home abuse cases often. Right now, he’s preparing to file a lawsuit against Riverview for neglect.

A CMS report says the facility failed to prevent the sexual assault of one of its patients.

“We were appalled. Because as will come out in the litigation, the nature of the assault was the most pernicious kind of sexual assault I think I’ve ever seen,” says Mance.

But what can be a challenge, Mance says, is figuring out who to sue.

Often times, in nursing homes, staff aren’t employees of the nursing home itself, but a staff agency or a corporation set up by a parent company.

“These entities form corporations for the purpose, sometimes, of averting liability and disclaiming any control that in reality, they actually have over these premises, the employees, subsidiary corporations and the like,” says Mance.

Take Abercorn Rehabilitation Center for example: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) records show five different companies own the facility.

PruittHealth Savannah has seven different owners.

Both facilities are rated below average by CMS.

“Litigation alone is not the solution. Lawyers alone are not the solution. We need legislative reform, we need legislative reform at every level,” says Mance.

“Look, there’s bad nursing homes out there. I know that for a fact, and they need to be disciplined and they need to be closed, but for the most part, the vast majority, they’re trying to do what they can,” says Congressman Carter.

Carter is all too familiar with the way the system is set up, having worked as a pharmacist consultant in nursing homes himself. When asked if more corporate oversight is needed of the companies running nursing homes, Carter said it is.

“Yes, I do believe that we need to do a better job, and licensure is doing a better job,” says Carter.

But what the Congressman is most concerned with is staffing.

Carter voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes provisions that delay Biden-era minimum staffing standards in nursing homes for a decade. The standard required every patient in a nursing home to receive at least 3.48 hours of direct care from a nurse every day.

“There was also a study done by a federal agency that said there’s really no ratio that can guarantee quality care, and there’s really not. So that’s why we in the Republican majority in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we changed that.”

The June 2023 report, commissioned by CMS, found there’s no specific staffing level that guarantees quality care. It did find that higher staffing levels would lead to few hospitalizations and fewer instances of neglect in nursing homes.

“We’re trying to focus more on workforce development,” says Carter.

Currently, nursing homes can have their own nursing certification programs, but they’re subject to suspension for two years if the facility has a certain number of violations.

Carter says changing that standard to exclude penalties that don’t have to do with patient care is something to look at.

“If you have crackers in the cabinets that are out of date, that’s not really patient care, per se. So unless it is something directly with patient care, then you want to continue with the CNA program. That’s the kind of thing we can address at the federal level and from a licensure perspective,” says Congressman Carter.

That provision was introduced as the bipartisan Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act in 2024, but it never made it to a vote.

We reached out to both Senator Jon Ossoff and Senator Raphael Warnock on this story, as well. Both Senators declined to give an interview, or to comment.