Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

A Texas-based skilled nursing chain has agreed to pay $5.3 million to settle claims that it provided substandard and “worthless” services at some of its facilities, federal officials announced Monday.

The settlement alleges that Daybreak Partners LLC and its subsidiaries Daybreak Venture LLC and Daybreak Healthcare Inc., provided “materially substandard and/or worthless” services at four of its Texas skilled nursing facilities between 2006 and 2010.

Among the claims made against Daybreak are allegations that staff at the four facilities failed to:

  • Follow fall protocols

  • Follow pressure ulcer and infection control protocols while treating several residents

  • Properly administer medications

  • Follow physicians’ orders for several residents

  • Answer residents’ call lights promptly

  • Provide a habitable living environment with adequate equipment and capital expenditures

  • Investigate and report multiple “serious incidents” to appropriate authorities

In a statement emailed to McKnight’s, CEO Mike Rich said Daybreak “fully cooperated” during the investigation and is pleased the company was able to reach a settlement that was “acceptable to all parties.”

“As is the case for most healthcare providers participating in regulated healthcare programs, it is not feasible to engage in expensive and prolonged litigation with the government,” the statement reads. “The settlement is a huge step forward that allows Daybreak to keep its focus on providing quality nursing care to its residents.”

In addition to the $5.3 million settlement, Daybreak has entered a Corporate Integrity Agreement that requires an independent monitors and gives the Office of Inspector General for Health & Human Services authority to oversee the quality of care at all of the provider’s facilities for the next five years.

“Throughout this process we have continued to build on the infrastructure of our compliance programs, and we will partner with the government to further enhance these programs and our services to our residents,” Daybreak officials said.