This week’s Ftag of the Week is part of the Food and Nutrition Services regulatory group, F800 Provided Diet Meets Needs of Each Resident. This regulation requires that facilities provide “each resident with a nourishing, palatable, well-balanced diet” that meets the resident’s daily nutritional needs, special dietary needs, and in alignment with the person-centered focus of the updated RoPs, takes into consideration each resident’s preferences.
There is a clear emphasis on resident choice in the regulation, as well as in some recently cited deficiencies under the LTCSP. Common issues cited include residents who dine in their rooms not being provided with information related to alternate meal options, as well as identified food preferences not being addressed. The Interpretive Guidance (IG) states that reasonable efforts to accommodate the residents’ choices and preferences must be made by the facility, as this helps ensure that residents are offered meaningful choices for their meals/diets that are satisfying to the residents as well as nutritionally adequate. The regulation expects ongoing communication and coordination between all departments and staff to ensure that residents’ nutritional and dietary needs are met according to the individual resident’s assessment and care plan, and that the plan of care must also include the resident’s choices. This relatively brief regulation packs some wallop though! It concludes by directing the surveyors to cite this tag if there are “overall systems issues” identified regard how the facility manages and executes it food and nutrition services. You need to follow-up on all resident identified food concerns and always monitor your food/nutritional services systems.
