F0880

D

Vendor Noncompliance With COVID-19 Isolation PPE Requirements

Decatur, Texas Survey Completed on 02-27-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to maintain an effective Infection Prevention and Control Program when a contracted Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) did not use appropriate PPE while visiting residents on COVID-19 isolation precautions. Three residents had active care plans for COVID-19 infection that included interventions such as ensuring infection control measures and PPE use during care, staying in their rooms, and limiting contact with others. Each of these residents was on isolation precautions for confirmed COVID-19, and their rooms were designated isolation rooms with posted signage indicating required PPE and precautions.

Resident #1 was an older female with intact cognition and active diagnoses including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, seizure disorder, and respiratory distress. Her care plan for acute COVID-19 infection specified infection control measures and PPE use during care, along with room isolation. Resident #2 was an older female with intact cognition and active diagnoses including hypertension, viral hepatitis, bipolar disorder, and asthma; her COVID-19 care plan also required infection control measures, PPE use, and remaining in her room as much as possible. Resident #3 was an older male with intact cognition and active diagnoses including hypertension, anemia, diabetes mellitus, bipolar disorder, and asthma, and his COVID-19 care plan similarly required infection control measures, PPE use, and room isolation.

On the survey date, a sign at the facility entrance alerted all visitors that there had been a COVID-19 case in the last 14 days and that masks were required. Each isolation room door also had signage specifying appropriate PPE and precautions. Despite this, the LPC entered the isolation hallway and visited two residents in a shared isolation room and then another resident in a separate isolation room while wearing only a cloth face mask and without donning any of the PPE available outside each room. In interview, the LPC acknowledged seeing the signs at the front door and on resident doors but stated he did not read them thoroughly and had not been informed by staff of the COVID-19 outbreak or PPE requirements. The Administrator and DON stated that vendors were expected to follow the facility’s infection control policy and isolation precautions the same as staff, and that vendors not following these precautions could place residents at risk of infection.