Failure to Follow Grievance Policy and Provide Family Follow-Up
Penalty
Summary
Facility administration failed to adhere to its grievance policy regarding a resident with epilepsy, dementia, and cognitive communication deficit, who required staff assistance for all activities of daily living. The resident's family, who are also the legal guardians, submitted concerns about the frequency of changing and catheter monitoring. The facility's grievance documentation indicated that the family was not satisfied with the resolution and requested continued updates. However, there was no documented follow-up with the family after their concerns were verbalized. The facility's grievance policy requires the administrator or designee to contact the concerned party within 24 hours of receiving a grievance, provide written and oral explanations of findings within three to seven days, and maintain frequent contact until resolution. In this case, the administrator acknowledged that the follow-up was not completed, attributing the lapse to being off duty and leaving the responsibility to the DON, who was also unavailable. No further explanation or documentation of follow-up was provided by the end of the survey.