Pineville nursing home loses five-star rating following WBTV investigation

PINEVILLE, N.C. (WBTV) - A Pineville nursing home saw its rating drop dramatically following a WBTV investigation.

In October, WBTV investigated Pineville Rehabilitation & Living Center following a call from a viewer.

State inspectors had found dozens of violations at the facility during an inspection earlier in 2022. Despite that, the facility still had a five-star rating from the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But that changed months later.

Pineville Rehabilitation & Living Center now has a one-star rating from CMS.

That’s welcome news to Cindy Blasko, whose mother, Berni Carrington, died after living at the facility for years.

Previous: ‘It’s just scary.’ Woman questions nursing home’s five-star rating after mother’s experience

Carrington had worked as a jailer in Florida.

“She would always say this is worse than how we treated people in jail,” Blasko recalled her mother saying.

Blasko called WBTV after seeing our story in October.

Months later, after the federal quality rating change, she questioned what took so long.

“Why did it take a news report to make that happen to change its star rating?” Blasko asked.

WBTV made repeated attempts to reach someone with Pineville Rehabilitation & Living Center or its parent company, CCH Healthcare, for comment for this story but was unsuccessful.

Previously, a staff member from the facility approached a WBTV crew shooting video for our story in October but refused to answer any questions.

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