Failure to Timely Report and Investigate Alleged Abuse
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that an allegation of abuse was reported in accordance with regulatory requirements. Specifically, a hospital social worker notified the facility's Director of Social Services that a resident reported being physically and sexually abused at the facility. Despite this notification, the Director of Social Services did not inform the Administrator, the Director of Nursing, or the New York State Department of Health about the allegation. The Director of Social Services stated that they were aware the resident was planning to report abuse as a means to avoid returning to the facility and, based on this belief and the absence of known incidents, did not initiate an investigation or report the allegation as required by facility policy and state regulations. Interviews with facility leadership confirmed that neither the Administrator nor the Director of Nursing were made aware of the abuse allegation, and no report was made to the Department of Health. The facility's policy requires immediate reporting of abuse allegations to appropriate authorities, but this process was not followed in this instance. The resident involved refused to return to the facility, citing the alleged abuse, and the failure to report and investigate the allegation constituted a deficiency in the facility's abuse reporting procedures.