Failure to Timely Report Alleged Physical Abuse
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to report an allegation of physical abuse in a timely manner to the State Agency, as required by its own policy. On a Sunday, a resident's stepdaughter and ex-wife informed the Operations Manager that the resident reported being hit by a CNA. The Operations Manager acknowledged receiving this information after 3 PM but did not report the allegation to the Abuse Coordinator. Instead, she only mentioned to the Assistant Administrator that there was an issue involving the resident's family, without specifying the abuse allegation. The Assistant Administrator confirmed that she was not informed of any abuse allegation that day. The Abuse Coordinator, who is also the facility Administrator, stated that he was not notified of the abuse allegation on the day it was reported by the family. The initial incident report was sent to the State Agency approximately 48 hours after the allegation was made, documenting that a family member reported a CNA had hit the resident and that the CNA was suspended pending investigation. The facility's abuse policy requires immediate reporting of such allegations to the Department of Public Health, but this was not followed in this instance.