Insufficient Qualified Staffing in Food and Nutrition Services
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to employ sufficient staff with the appropriate competencies and skill sets to manage the food and nutrition services. The Dietary Director (DD) was not certified as a food service manager or dietary manager and was not currently enrolled in a certification program, despite attempts to re-enroll. The DD held a baccalaureate degree in marketing, which does not meet the regulatory requirements for the position. The Registered Dietitian (RD) was contracted to provide oversight but was not on-site full time, working only one to two days per week at the facility and the remainder remotely. The facility did not have a copy of the current contract with the RD readily available, and the contract itself was not fully executed with all required dates. The deficiency affected all 91 residents in the facility, as the DD did not meet the qualifications required to serve as the director of food and nutrition services, and the RD did not provide full-time on-site supervision. The facility had submitted a waiver request to the state agency for the DD's lack of certification, but at the time of the survey, the DD was not actively enrolled in a certification program and had not received responses from the school. The DON and NHA acknowledged these concerns during interviews, and no additional information was provided to demonstrate compliance with staffing or qualification requirements for the food and nutrition service.