Failure to Complete PASARR Screening After 30-Day Exemption Expired
Penalty
Summary
A deficiency occurred when the facility failed to ensure that a resident was accurately screened for a mental disorder prior to the expiration of a 30-day PASARR (Preadmission Screening and Resident Review) exemption. The resident was admitted with diagnoses including anxiety disorder, depression, dementia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and atherosclerotic heart disease. The resident's initial PASARR Level 1 screening indicated a major mental disorder and documented a 30-day hospital discharge exemption. However, after the 30-day exemption expired, no new PASARR Level 1 screening was completed, despite the resident continuing to reside in the facility for over a year. The facility's policy requires a Level 1 PASARR screen for new admissions and specifies that a new screen is not required only if the attending physician certifies the resident will need less than 30 days of nursing facility services. In this case, the admissions department completed the initial PASARR, but the responsibility for subsequent screenings or referrals was assigned to the social services department. The deficiency was identified when it was discovered that the resident's PASARR was not updated after the exemption period, and there was no documentation explaining why the required screening was not completed.