Failure to Timely Report Suspected Abuse and Submit Investigative Reports
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to follow its abuse prevention policy and procedures regarding the timely reporting of suspected abuse, neglect, or theft. Specifically, in four out of ten reviewed abuse allegations, the facility did not report incidents to the administrator and the State Survey Agency within the required timeframes. For example, in one case, an allegation of staff-to-resident abuse was not reported to the administrator until nearly two days after the incident, and the State Survey Agency was not notified until four days after the event. In another instance, staff were aware of an abuse allegation but delayed notifying the administrator and subsequently delayed reporting to the State Survey Agency. Additionally, the facility did not submit final investigative reports to the State Survey Agency within the required five business days for certain cases, including allegations of visitor-to-resident and resident-to-resident abuse. These delays were confirmed during interviews with the administrator and the DON, who acknowledged that the required reporting timeframes were not met for the identified abuse allegations.