Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) Fines 7 Nursing Homes
The CDPH has issued fines totaling $49,100 to seven nursing homes since the beginning of 2019. In one instance the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added an additional $21,000 to the $10,000 fine assessed by the CDPH.
The incidents involved a variety of reportable scenarios that included:
- In two separate facilities a resident inappropriately and repeatedly touched other residents.
- A medication error involved a dose of morphine 10 times the amount prescribed.
- Injuries from fallsāone resident left unattended in the shower fell and suffered a broken femur and another suffered a gash in a fall from a bed.
- An aide threatened a resident with physical harm.
- When an aide tried to transfer a resident from a wheelchair to the bed without help from another aide or use of a pivot disk indicated in the care plan, the resident suffered an injury requiring 17 stitches.
- An aide asked a resident with dementia for money.
- A regular diet served to a resident who was to have a soft-food diet caused the resident to choke on a piece of sausage.
According to the CDPH, all of the fines were for lapses in care that endangered or hurt residents in the seven facilities.
Compliance Perspective
Allowing residents to continue repeated and inappropriate touching of other residents; failing to ensure that staff dispensing medications follow the five elements of medication administration; failing to ensure that staff follow residentsā care plans and risk assessments to ensure safety in transfers; failing to serve a residentās prescribed diet; and inadequate supervision during bathing and bed exit may place residents in āimmediate jeopardyā and be considered provision of sub-standard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding staff training and compliance with resident behavior interventions; the five rights of medication administration; residentsā care plans and risk assessments; and the prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents.
- Train staff on the importance of strict adherence to residentsā care plans, risk assessments, medication distribution requirements, and prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents.
- Periodically audit to determine if staff are following residentsā care plans regarding transfers to and from their beds and wheelchairs, if they are supervising residents at risk of falls, and to ensure they are following medication administration policies and procedures.
