The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed nursing facilities’ compliance with federal regulations for reporting allegations of neglect or abuse in its August report. The report reviewed a sample of over 100 nursing homes and found:
- 85% of nursing facilities reported at least one allegation of abuse or neglect in 2012
- 76% of nursing facilities maintained policies around reporting allegations of abuse or neglect and for reporting investigation results
- 61% of nursing facilities maintained documentation exhibiting compliance with Federal regulations under Section 1150B of the SSA
However, most alarmingly, only 53% of allegations of abuse or neglect and the results of incident investigations were reported appropriately as required by Federal regulations. Only 63% of the allegations were reported to administration and the State agency as required. At CMSCG, we often get calls from our clients asking us if an incident is reportable or not, but more often than not we end up discussing whether they have conducted a comprehensive investigation or not. Administrators need to ensure that the staff member assigned to conduct investigations understands the principle of investigating and the importance of asking who, what, when, where and how and, the, coupling the information obtained into an investigation summary that makes sense. If you don’t have a thorough investigation it is difficult to make a sound decision on whether or not an event meets reporting criteria.