A U.S. district court in Virginia holds that a nursing home that is the designated representative of a resident who was denied Medicaid benefits does not have standing to sue the state on the resident's behalf because the resident also had an attorney-in-fact and the nursing home lacks organizational standing to sue on behalf of residents. Guggenheimer Health and Rehabilitation Center v. Cary (U.S. Dist. Ct., W.D. Va., No. 6:17-cv-00079, April 17, 2018).
Charles Bedat entered a nursing home, and in October 2016, he authorized the nursing home to act as his designated representative for Medicaid purposes. In November 2016, he signed a power of attorney form, designating an attorney as his attorney-in-fact. Mr. Bedat applied for Medicaid, but he was denied benefits due to excess resources. The nursing home appealed on his behalf, but the appeal was denied.
The nursing home sued the state on Mr. Bedat's behalf for violating federal Medicaid law. The state argued that the nursing home did not have standing as Mr. Bedat's designated representative to sue on his behalf because Mr. Bedat has a power of attorney designating someone else to act on his behalf. The nursing home argued that it had organizational standing to bring the lawsuit on Mr. Bedat's behalf.
The U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia, grants the state's motion to dismiss, holding that the nursing home lacks standing. The court finds that Mr. Bedat's attorney-in-fact is the one who has standing to bring a suit on his behalf, not the nursing home. The court also rules that a "corporate nursing home does not have organizational standing for its residents, who are its clients or customers, not its members."
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://www.vawd.uscourts.gov/opinions/moon/guggenheimer.pdf
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