A Lawrence nursing home is on the brink of being forced out of business.

Earlier this week, state and federal officials warned Lake View Manor, 3015 W. 31st St., that after March 22 it won’t be paid for any new admissions.

“They have a lot they need to do,” said Paul Shumate, a Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services administrator who oversees nursing home inspections in Kansas and Iowa.

Lake View failed a five-day inspection in mid-February.

The cutoff will remain in place until after Lake View passes a surprise, follow-up inspection.

“A lot is going to depend on that survey,” Shumate said.

If Lake View doesn’t pass, he said, it will be subject to $500-a-day fines, from Feb. 23 to the day it passes.

“I wouldn’t want to speculate,” Shumate said. “But they have significant problems, and they’re going to have to show some pretty dramatic improvement.”

Last month, Lake View was cited for poor care, faulty recordkeeping, inadequate staffing and not doing enough to prevent bedsores.

Lake View Manor, 3015 W. 31st St., will lose its funding for new admissions beginning next week. The cutoff will remain in place until Lake View passes a surprise, follow-up inspection. If it fails, it will face 00-a-day fines dated back to Feb. 23.

Inspectors noted that after a resident was given “multiple doses of ‘as needed’ narcotic pain medication on a daily basis,” the resident began hallucinating, falling in and out of consciousness, and “jerking on the right side of their body.”

After three days, the resident was taken to an emergency room. The diagnosis: “drug toxicity.”

Upon returning to Lake View, the resident suffered another overdose because the day shift hadn’t shared the diagnosis with the night shift.

“These are very serious deficiencies,” said Barb Conant, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department on Aging.

At Lake View, administrator Steve Duncan declined to predict the nursing home’s future.

“I really don’t want to get into timelines; it’s going to take a while,” Duncan said. “But I think we’ll get it turned around. We have a plan of attack; we’re all working toward the same goal.”

Duncan has been Lake View administrator since November.

Lake View’s troubles are not new. Last year, it was declared one of the three worst nursing homes in Kansas and subjected to inspections every six months rather than the usual 12.

“We’re trying to work with them – to bring them into compliance and to keep them in compliance,” Conant said.

But Deanne Bacco, executive director at Kansas Advocates for Better Care, said state and federal officials’ reluctance to pull the plug on Lake View had perpetuated – rather than curtailed – poor care.

“This has been going on far too long,” Bacco said. “This is a black mark on Kansas and on how we treat our frail elders.”

Lake View, she said, has botched too many opportunities to mend its ways.

“The chances of turning that place around are slim and none – slim in the short-term, none in the long run,” she said.

Conant insisted the Department on Aging was not coddling bad nursing homes.

“Our goal is to use incentives and to get the facilities into compliance,” she said. “The care, safety and security of residents is our top priority.”

The latest survey, 109 pages, included 38 deficiencies, six of which involved “actual harm” to residents.

Lake View is owned by Charles K. Pomeroy and his parents, Charles P. and Lurene Pomeroy, of Topeka.

Last year, a former Lake View nurse accused Charles K. Pomeroy of firing her after she reported staffing violations to the state.

Mary Spencer filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in Douglas County District Court.

“It’s plugging right along,” Spencer said. “We’ve taken depositions.”

Records show Lake View has had five administrators in the past year and at least that many directors of nursing.

Last month, the nursing home had 38 residents.