Assembly Conducting Hearing on Nursing Home Quality and Oversight
According to a federal audit released last week by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the New York State Department of Health (DOH) frequently failed to properly monitor nursing homes that needed to correct deficiencies.
The review was completed using data from CY 2014. OIG used generally accepted government auditing standards and found that DOH did not have the supporting documentation that it had verified the nursing homes’ corrections. Further, it did not have evidence of correction for a number of deficiencies and did not document that it had verified the corrections during follow-up surveys. Although DOH claimed that the nursing homes were in substantial compliance with federal participation requirements, its certifications did not comply with all federal requirements in verifying the corrections.
The full audit also refers to a number of other states that, according to OIG, failed to verify correction of deficiencies.
OIG’s recommendations are that surveyors follow Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance for verifying and documenting the correction of nursing home deficiencies in accordance with federal requirements.
LeadingAge NY will be testifying at the Assembly Health and Aging Committees’ hearing on nursing home quality and oversight on Mon., Nov. 20th in New York City.
Contact: Mary Wassel, mwassel@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8850