Failure to Maintain Current Hospice Documentation
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to maintain a system to ensure that a hospice resident's Hospice Binder contained the most recent Hospice Plan of Care and a current Recertification of Terminal Illness. Specifically, for one resident receiving hospice care, the binder did not include the latest physician recertification or an updated plan of care for the current certification period. The facility's agreement with the hospice agency required obtaining and maintaining these documents for each hospice patient. Record review showed that the most recent documents in the resident's Hospice Binder were outdated, corresponding to a previous certification period. Interviews confirmed that the current physician recertification and updated plan of care were missing from the binder. This deficiency had the potential to affect all residents in the facility receiving hospice services.