Official Site of The State of New Jersey

February 2024

Demanding Accountability from Nursing Home Owners

A Message from Laurie Facciarossa Brewer, Long-Term Care Ombudsman

It is still early in 2024, and already the owners of five nursing homes across New Jersey faced suspension from Medicaid — the single largest source of funding for long-term care — by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC). As the leading advocates for nursing home residents, my staff and I fully support the OSC’s efforts. Residents of the five nursing homes and their loved ones may be anxious, but it is our hope and expectation that the owners will sell their interests and residents will be unaffected. This is already happening at Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Sussex County. (See below.) The suspensions have received widespread news coverage. To summarize:

• Chaim Scheinbaum and Louis Schwartz, owners of Limecrest, were facing suspension but they recently sold the nursing home, enabling the home to continue receiving Medicaid funds. Those two individuals also owned Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, which the state forced to close in August 2022 due to poor conditions and persistent health and safety violations.
• Gail Bogner and her son Ezra Bogner are scheduled for suspension March 28. They owned Princeton Care Center, which closed without notice Sept. 1, 2023, forcing 72 residents to be evacuated to other facilities. Gail Bogner owns a minority stake in both Fountain View Care Center in Lakewood and Tallwoods Care Center in Bayville. It is expected that she will sell those interests.
• Kenneth Rozenberg, Beth Rozenberg, and Daryl Hagler, owners of Deptford Center and Hammonton Center, face suspension May 24. Both centers are perennial poor performers, and the OSC also cited evidence of massive fraud related to the owners’ long-term care facilities in New York.

I want to be clear that nursing home owners do not all operate in the manner alleged in the OSC actions. There are many excellent nursing homes in New Jersey, and there are certainly thousands of dedicated direct care staff members working in nursing homes. However, I believe it benefits all of us — residents, their family and friends, nursing home providers, direct care staff, and taxpaying citizens — for people who own perennial poor performing nursing homes to be held accountable.

If you live in any of the affected facilities, please call 1-877-582-6995 if you have any questions or concerns.

Black History Month: Harriet Tubman, Eldercare Advocate

Harriet Tubman is a giant of American history, best known as an enslaved person who escaped and then returned to the South more than a dozen times, helping 70 others flee to freedom via the Underground Railroad. She also served as a scout, spy, soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War.

But did you know she was an eldercare pioneer too?

It was the 1890s. There was no social safety net, and times were lean for older Black Americans. Churches, civic groups, and individuals stepped up to help. At her home in Auburn, N.Y., Tubman was taking in aging family members and others in need of shelter, food, clothing, and medical attention.

Tubman purchased an adjacent 25-acre parcel of land with plans to establish a home to carry on her humanitarian work. She later deeded the property to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to open the Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes. Tubman herself became a resident, living in John Brown Hall until her death in 1913.

The site is now part of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park. Learn more.

Spotlight on Certified Volunteer Advocates

Certified Volunteer Advocates (CVAs) play a crucial role in New Jersey’s nursing homes, visiting residents regularly, helping them to solve problems, and ensuring they are treated with dignity and respect. The Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman is highlighting our CVAs by publishing a new feature article every week.

Visit to see the latest CVA profile