Failure to Timely Report Resident-to-Resident Abuse Allegation
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to report allegations of resident-to-resident abuse to the State Survey Agency within 24 hours as required. Specifically, a resident reported to a nurse that her roommate had engaged in unwanted touching of her thigh and groin area. This initial report was made by the resident to the nurse on 9/8/24, and the resident repeated her concerns an hour later. However, the nurse did not escalate the report to administration, resulting in a delay in notifying the appropriate authorities. The incident only came to the attention of facility administration when the resident's representative contacted social services several days later to request a room change due to the unwanted touching. Upon learning of the incident, the facility reported it to the State Survey Agency, but this was not within the required 24-hour timeframe from the initial event. The facility's own policy requires immediate reporting of such allegations, but this protocol was not followed due to the breakdown in communication between nursing staff and administration.