Alden Group

A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against the Chicago nursing home network for allegedly having a pervasive and intentional history of under staffing its facilities. The lawsuit was filed in Cook County and claims the hours of care provided to each resident falls short of the minimum 2.5 hours required under Illinois state rules. Nursing homes have to report to state and federal agencies regarding time and costs allocated to patients. This information can be found on a Web site which in turn attributes the data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However, the numbers do not match those reported by the government agency's own Web site. According to the site several facilities provided its residents with a daily average of only 1.6 hours of care.