F0692

E

Failure to Monitor Weights and Meal Intake Leading to Ongoing Weight Loss and Malnutrition

New Haven, Connecticut Survey Completed on 03-19-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure adequate nutritional monitoring and intervention to prevent significant weight loss and malnutrition for three residents by not following its own weight and intake monitoring policies and physician orders. For one resident with vascular dementia and adult failure to thrive, the care plan identified risk for malnutrition and called for assessing intakes, bloodwork, and weights, and monitoring for significant changes. However, no weights were obtained between early June and early July, and there was no weight order in the physician’s orders over several months. After multiple hospitalizations and readmissions, weights were not obtained within 24 hours of readmission as required by policy, and there were long gaps before weights were recorded. A readmission nutrition assessment documented poor to fair intake and requested an updated weight, but the next weight was not obtained until 19 days after readmission. Subsequent weights showed significant unplanned weight loss, including a loss of over 10% in six months and an 11.694% loss in one month, and the resident met criteria for severe malnutrition related to inadequate oral intake. Despite these significant changes, re-weights were not obtained within two days of the large loss and subsequent large gain, and the record did not show refusals of readmission weights or re-weights.

For a second resident with severe protein-calorie malnutrition, adult failure to thrive, diabetes, and a stage 3 pressure ulcer, the MDS identified significant weight loss not associated with a prescribed weight-loss regimen, and the care plan called for monitoring weight for significant changes and encouraging and monitoring oral intake. Physician orders over several months did not include an order to obtain weights. The clinical record showed only three weights over a three-month period, with no weight obtained in one of those months, and there was no documentation that the resident refused the missing monthly weight. Meal percentage documentation for this resident was also sparse, with only 42 of 270 meals having recorded intake percentages.

For a third resident with malignant neoplasm of the gallbladder, acute on chronic right heart failure, and HIV, there was a physician’s order for weekly weights on Mondays. The MDS identified significant weight loss not associated with a prescribed weight-loss regimen, and the care plan included monitoring weight for significant changes and encouraging and monitoring oral intake. The clinical record showed weights obtained on scattered dates, but there were multiple extended periods where weekly weights were not documented, and there was no documentation that the resident refused weights during those gaps. After a hospitalization and readmission, weekly weights were again not obtained for several weeks despite the standing order, and the first post-readmission weight was not recorded until 25 days after return. Across all three residents, meal intake documentation was incomplete: only 74 of 459 meals were recorded for the first resident and 269 of 453 meals for the third resident, which the RD stated prevented her from obtaining a clear picture of intake when assessing significant weight loss.

Interviews and policy review further described the actions and inactions contributing to the deficiency. The RD stated that all non-hospice residents should have weight orders and be weighed at least monthly, that readmission weights should be obtained within 24–48 hours, and that residents with a 5% or more weight change should be reweighed within two days and she should be notified. She acknowledged that she ordered weights and re-weights for residents with significant weight loss but was inconsistent with follow-up when weights were not obtained, and that incomplete meal documentation limited her ability to assess intake; she also stated she did not report the documentation issues to the DNS or provider and did not recommend more frequent weight monitoring for the resident who met criteria for severe malnutrition. The DON reported that residents with weight loss or gain should have physician orders directing weight frequency, that she was unaware residents were missing weight orders, and that nursing staff were responsible for entering weight orders on admission/readmission. She stated that residents should have weights at least monthly or per orders, on readmission, and with any significant change, and that admission/readmission weights and re-weights should be obtained within 24 hours and documented before the end of the shift. She also stated that meal percentages should be recorded for every resident and refusals documented, and she was unaware that meal percentages were not being documented consistently. The facility’s weight policy required admission and readmission weights within 24 hours, weekly weights for four weeks, monthly weights by the 10th of each month, re-weighing and RD notification for significant weight changes, and RD review and dietary interventions for significant changes, but the facility did not provide additional policies for significant weight loss and re-weights despite request.