Failure to Ensure Timely Physician Visits for Resident
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that a resident was seen by a physician at the required intervals following admission, as mandated by regulation. Specifically, the resident, who was admitted in March 2025 and had diagnoses including sequelae of cerebral infarction and type 2 diabetes mellitus, did not have documented physician visits at least once every 30 days for the first 90 days after admission, and at least once every 60 days thereafter. The only physician entry found was a late entry created in April 2025 but dated for March 30, 2025, with no other documented physician visits during the required period. Instead, the resident was seen multiple times by a Family Nurse Practitioner, but these visits do not fulfill the regulatory requirement for physician face-to-face visits. Interviews with facility leadership confirmed that the attending physician was noncompliant with the required visit schedule prior to May 2025, and there was no further documentation of physician visits for the resident during the period in question. The facility's own policy also requires physician visits at the specified intervals, which were not met in this case.