Last month, we posted on the CMSCG Blog about the Office of the Inspector General’s unannounced visits to nursing homes in multiple states to assess their compliance with federal requirements for Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Infection control. Similar to the report findings about New Jersey, OIG found deficits in its sample of facilities in Pennsylvania as well.
The report, “Pennsylvania Could Better Ensure That Nursing Homes Comply With Federal Requirements for Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness, and Infection Control,” found deficiencies related to Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness and/or Infection Control at all 20 of the nursing facilities included in the audit. Pennsylvania fared worse on the unannounced visits than New Jersey did, with a total of 586 deficiencies identified across the three areas in Pennsylvania. By comparison, the New Jersey audit identified 363 deficiencies. The most deficiencies were identified under emergency preparedness requirements and per the report, can be attributed to frequent management and staff turnover.
