Troubled Chicago nursing home may lose Medicaid funding

March 16, 2011|By David Jackson and Gary Marx, Tribune reporters Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

Federal authorities are moving this week to terminate Medicaid funding to the troubled Wincrest Nursing Center on the city’s North Side after state and federal inspections documented residents engaged in bloody fights and drug abuse that spilled from the facility out into the surrounding community.

An 80-bed home that primarily houses adults with mental illnesses, including dozens with felony records, Wincrest has for years been the subject of complaints by local officials and neighbors, as well as students and staff from nearby Loyola University Chicago. Seven Loyola residence halls housing about 600 students stand within a block of the home at 6326 N. Winthrop Ave.

A 2009 Tribune article showed that Wincrest had failed to notify state officials of numerous felons living in the facility, as required by Illinois law, and reported that some residents used illegal drugs and committed crimes in the neighborhood.

via Troubled Chicago nursing home may lose Medicaid funding – Chicago Tribune.