Failure to Involve Resident Representative in Care Planning
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure a resident representative was involved in the development and implementation of a person-centered care plan when a scheduled care plan conference was not conducted as planned. The resident was admitted in mid-January 2026 with hemiplegia and hemiparesis following a cerebral infarction affecting the right dominant side, aphasia following cerebral infarction, and type 2 diabetes mellitus with ketoacidosis. The admission record identified the resident’s daughter as the responsible party (RP). An IDT note dated 1/19/26 by Social Services Assistant (SSA) 1 documented a voicemail left for the RP requesting a return call. A social service note dated 1/20/26 by SSA 2 documented that the RP was called and asked to attend a care conference at 2:30 p.m. and that the RP would participate over the phone. There was no subsequent social services documentation confirming that the care conference occurred or that the RP participated. An IDT conference note initiated 2/5/26 stated that a care conference was conducted that day with the Social Services Director (SSD), Assistant DON (ADON), and Director of Rehabilitation (DOR), and that the resident planned to discharge home with support; this note was signed by SSA 1 on 2/18/26. SSA 2 later stated she did not know if the RP attended the care plan conference, and SSA 1 stated that SSD 1 had created the IDT care conference note on 2/5/26 and that she completed it on 2/18/26 because SSD 1 had not finished her notes. The Minimum Data Set Coordinator (MDSC) confirmed that the SSD schedules care plan conferences, that the conference should be done within the first week of admission, and that the resident was nonverbal, on tube feeding, and bedbound. The MDSC acknowledged that the IDT conference note for this resident had sections completed by Dietary, Therapy, Activities, and Social Services, but the Nursing Services section was not filled out and there was no documentation that Social Services had spoken with the resident’s representative. The facility’s policy stated that residents and/or representatives are encouraged to participate in care plan development and that the SSD or designee is responsible for notifying them and maintaining records of such notices, including input if they are unable to attend.
