New Mexico may proceed in the process of recovering Medicaid payments from an Albuquerque nursing home that did not comply with the requirements for screening patients for developmental disabilities and mental illness, the New Mexico State Supreme Court ruled this week.

A Nov. 15 release from the Administrative Office of the Courts states the Court reached an unanimous opinion stating nursing homes must move screenings to the Department of Health when a patient has spina bifida or other conditions. The decision by the court overturns the State Court of Appeals ruling that the home had complied with the requirements under the state’s Preadmission Screening and Annual Resident Review Program (PSARRP).

"The Court of Appeals erred in holding that Princeton did not violate the law by determining Applicant did not have an intellectual disability and declining to initiate a Level II screening," the court wrote in an opinion by Justice David Thomson.

According to the release, patients at the Princeton Place nursing home in Albuquerque were not screened for developmental disabilities and mental illnesses, though federal law requires states to implement a two-level screening program to prevent these patients from being placed in a nursing home unless that level of medical care is required.

One case in question saw the nursing home screen a patient for admission in 2011, determining he had chronic spina bifida and deciding a second screening would be unnecessary as he showed no signs of a developmental disability or mental illness, the release states. 

The Department of Health pushed for the recovery of Medicaid payments received by the nursing home after admitting the patient without a second screening. According to the release, the Human Services Department began proceedings in 2014 to recover $158,178 from Princeton Place.