Failure to Provide Timely Physician and Provider Visits
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that residents received timely and appropriate visits from a Physician, Nurse Practitioner (NP), or Physician's Assistant (PA) as required by regulations and facility policy. For one resident with a spinal cord injury and paraplegia, there was no evidence of a physician visit within 30 days of admission, with the first documented physician visit occurring five months after admission. The facility's own policy and federal regulations require that new admissions be seen by a physician within 30 days, but documentation and interviews confirmed this did not occur for this resident. Additionally, another resident with multiple diagnoses, including type 2 diabetes mellitus with diabetic neuropathy, dysarthria following cerebral infarct, hemiplegia, hemiparesis, pain, and major depressive disorder, was not seen by a physician for a period of 199 days. During this time, required visits did not alternate between the physician and NP/PA as mandated. The Regional Director of Operations confirmed that the resident was not seen by a physician every 60 days and that the required alternation of visits did not occur during the specified period.