F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
F

Failure to Update Abuse Prevention Policies and Employee Screening

The Pines Healthcare & Rehab Ctrs Machias CampusMachias, New York Survey Completed on 02-03-2025

Summary

The facility failed to implement and update its policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents, as well as the misappropriation of resident property. During a complaint investigation and extended standard survey, it was found that the facility's abuse reporting policy, last revised in December 2015, was outdated and did not align with current regulations. Specifically, the policy did not include a timeline for notifying the New York State Department of Health about alleged violations, which is required to be reported immediately or within 24 hours depending on the severity of the incident. This deficiency affected 10 out of 12 residents reviewed. Additionally, the facility did not conduct the required New York State Nurse Aide Registry Verification for an agency Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) before their employment. The LPN worked multiple shifts at the facility without this verification, which is a necessary step to ensure that employees are screened for any history of abuse. The lack of verification was confirmed during interviews with the Administrator and the Infection Control/In-Service Coordinator, who acknowledged the oversight and the absence of documentation for the verification process. The Director of Nursing and the Administrator admitted to being unaware of the updated regulations for reporting allegations of abuse and neglect. They relied on the Risk Management Team for investigations and expected to receive updates through official communications, which they missed. The facility's failure to update its policies and procedures in accordance with state guidelines resulted in substandard quality of care, with the potential for more than minimal harm to all residents.

Plan Of Correction

Plan of Correction: Approved February 26, 2025 F-607 – Develop/Implement Abuse/Neglect Policies I. Per the Directed Plan of Correction the following actions were accomplished for the residents identified in the sample: - Resident #17: - Reports will be submitted to the Department of Health for the 12/10/24 and 12/11/24 incidents. - An assessment by a Registered nurse was completed on each altercation. No injuries were identified. - Resident #17’s care plan was reviewed and updated to include potential for Physically/Verbally Aggressive behaviors and potential for victimization due to wandering and rummaging. - A Social Services assessment completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts due to the altercations and subsequent room changes. - Resident #30: - An assessment by a Registered nurse was completed. No additional injuries were identified due to the deficient practice. - A Social Services assessment completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts. - Certified Nursing Assistant #5 will be re-educated on their role to review the care plan prior to providing care. - Resident #42: - An assessment by a Registered nurse was completed. No additional injuries were identified. - A Social Services assessment completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts. - Certified Nursing Assistant #4 is no longer employed by the facility. - Resident #47: - An assessment by a Registered nurse was completed. No injuries were identified. - A Social Services assessment completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts. - An investigation was conducted and allegation unfounded for sexual abuse. - Certified Nursing Assistant #9 was re-educated and was re-assigned from providing care to resident #47. - Resident #68: - Assessments by a Registered Nursing and Physician were completed. No injuries were identified. - A Social Services assessment will be completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts. - Additional signage will be placed on the resident’s door to deter others from wandering into the resident’s room. - Resident #71: - Assessments by a Registered Nursing and Physician were completed. No additional injuries were identified. - The resident’s care plan will be updated to include risk of unsafe wandering, risk for victimization due to wandering and behaviors directed at others along with appropriate interventions to address. - A Social Services assessment will be completed to ensure there are no additional ongoing negative psychosocial impacts related to the incident. - Resident #72: - Assessments by a Registered Nursing were completed. No injuries were identified. - A Social Services assessment will be completed to ensure there were no additional negative psychosocial impacts related to the incident. - Resident #75: - Reports will be submitted to the Department of Health for the 12/10/24 and 12/11/24 incidents. - An assessment by a registered nurse was completed following each altercation. No injuries were identified. - The resident was moved to a different unit on 12/11/24. - Resident #75’s care plan will be reviewed and updated to include risk of Physically/Verbally Aggressive behaviors and potential for victimization due to possessiveness. - A Social Services assessment will be completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts related to the resident to resident altercations and the subsequent room change. - Resident #95: - Assessments by a Registered Nursing and Physician were completed. No additional injuries were identified. - A Social Services assessment completed to ensure there were no negative psychosocial impacts. - Resident #161: - The resident was discharged from the facility on 7/26/24. - A review of the resident’s medical record indicates no additional injuries or negative psychosocial impacts. - Certified Nursing Assistant #12 was re-educated on their role to review the care plan prior to providing care. - Certified Nursing Assistant #4’s employment was terminated. - A New York State Nurse Aide Registry Verification report was obtained for the Employee Licensed Practical Nurse #4. No findings were noted. - The Administrator, Director of Nursing, and Assistant Director of Nursing were educated on the State Operations Manual timeframe reporting requirements for abuse reporting by the consultant. - The Administrator, Director of Nursing, Assistant Director of Nursing, and the Infection Control/In-Service Coordinator were educated on the requirement for pre-employment screening for all regular and agency staff via the New York Nurse Aide Registry by the consultant. II. Per the Directed Plan of Correction, the following corrective actions will be implemented to identify other residents who may be affected by the same practice: - All residents have the potential to be affected. - All resident progress notes and incident reports for the past 60 days will be reviewed by the Director of Nursing/designee to identify any incidents of actual or potential abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. The care plan of any identified resident will be reviewed and updated accordingly for risk of Physically/Verbally Aggressive behaviors, risk of victimization, risk of wandering, possessiveness, and ensure interventions are initiated in an effort to prevent abuse. - Any identified incident will be reviewed to ensure each has been thoroughly investigated, reported timely to the Department of Health, staff alleged to have committed abuse immediately removed from contact with residents, care plans updated, and measures have been initiated to prevent recurrence. - All regular and agency staff personnel records will be reviewed to ensure the Nurse Aide Registry screening has been completed. III. Per the Directed Plan of Correction the following system changes will be implemented to ensure continuing compliance with regulations: - The policy titled “Abuse/Neglect - Prevention and Reporting Process” has been reviewed and revised by the consultant with administration and nursing leadership to align with current regulations including reporting timelines. - The facility hiring policy will be reviewed by the consultant with administration and nursing leadership and a checklist provided to ensure all pre-employment procedures including Nurse Aide Registry Checks are completed prior to starting work. - As per the Directed Plan of Correction, the Consultant has developed and implemented an In-service Program to address: - Abuse Identification, Prevention and Reporting: All facility staff (including risk managers and investigators) will be educated by the consultant on Abuse Identification, Prevention and Reporting including identifying risk, removing staff immediately to prevent further abuse, and implementation of interventions to prevent recurrence. - State and Federal Regulations on Incident and Abuse Reporting: The Administrator and Director of Nursing and facility leadership (including risk managers and investigators) will be educated by the consultant on federal guidelines on Abuse and Incident reporting and their requirement to ensure all incidents are investigated thoroughly, reported timely to the Department of Health, interventions implemented to prevent recurrence, and immediate removal of any staff alleged to be involved. - Nurse Aide Registry: All facility leadership staff will be educated by the consultant on the updated hiring policy/process and checklist specifically to ensure the nurse aide registry is reviewed prior to hiring both regular and agency staff. - Regulatory Changes: All leadership staff will be educated by the consultant on their requirement to keep up to date and maintain compliance with all federal and state regulatory changes and to ensure facility policies/procedures align with those changes and staff are educated accordingly. - All training components will be added to initial orientation and annual education for facility and agency staff. IV. The facility’s compliance will be monitored utilizing the following quality assurance system: As per the Directed Plan of Correction, a Quality Assessment & Assurance Committee meeting was held on (MONTH) 24, 2025, to examine this deficiency. - An audit tool will be developed, and all incidents and progress notes will be reviewed daily by the Director of Nursing/designee for 1 month then weekly for 2 months to identify incidents involving abuse, neglect, or mistreatment and ensure they were reported to the Department of Health within required time frames, investigations completed timely, interventions implemented to prevent recurrence including staff involved are removed from providing care as appropriate and care plans updated accordingly. - An audit tool will be developed, and all new hires will be audited weekly for 4 weeks then monthly for 3 months to ensure pre-employment screening, including the nurse aide registry has been completed before hire. - Any issues of non-compliance will be addressed at the time of the audit and referred to the Administrator for further education and disciplinary action as indicated. - Audit results will be reported to the Quality Assessment & Assurance Committee monthly for three months. The consultant will participate in the Quality Assessment & Assurance Committee for three months. Frequency of ongoing audits will be determined by the Committee based on audit results. - The consultant will participate in the Quality Assessment & Assurance Committee Meeting monthly for 3 months. Responsibility: Director of Nursing

Penalty

Inspection fine: $122,190
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The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.

Resources

Below are regulatory guidelines relevant to this citation:

See other F0607 citations
Failure to Implement Abuse Policy and Investigate Resident Wrist Injuries
J
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

A resident with moderately impaired cognition and limited English proficiency sustained bilateral wrist discoloration and swelling during ADL care provided by a CNA while resisting care. Staff documentation and witness statements described the resident bumping or hitting her wrists on a wheelchair during transfer, but the CNA later stated he did not know how the injury occurred. The resident’s family reported that the resident said a large male staff member grabbed and held her hands while trying to force a nightgown change, and also reported a second, similar wrist injury incident to facility staff and APS. Despite a written abuse policy requiring immediate investigation, interviews of the alleged victim, alleged perpetrator, and witnesses, and protective measures, the facility did not report the incident as abuse or injury of unknown origin, did not interview the resident or other residents, and limited its inquiry to two staff members, resulting in a cited Immediate Jeopardy deficiency for failure to prevent and investigate potential abuse.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Ensure Completion of Required Annual Abuse-Prevention Training
D
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

The facility failed to follow its abuse, neglect, and exploitation policy by not ensuring that a CNA completed required annual abuse-prevention and related trainings. Although the CNA reported being current on all yearly training, a review of her transcript showed that assigned courses on cultural competence, abuse/neglect/exploitation, and abuse/neglect/exploitation with HIPAA content were overdue past their required completion date. The administrator confirmed that these were mandatory annual trainings. Review of the written policy showed that existing staff must receive annual education on preventing, identifying, recognizing, and reporting abuse, neglect, exploitation, and misappropriation of resident property, as well as on resident behaviors that may increase risk, but this requirement was not met for this CNA.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Immediately Report and Investigate Alleged Abuse
D
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

The facility failed to follow its abuse reporting policy when an allegation that a resident had been roughly handled by a third-shift CNA was not immediately reported to the Administrator/Abuse Coordinator. One resident told his roommate he had been treated roughly and mishandled with a urinal; the upset roommate then reported this to a CNA, who in turn informed an LPN. The CNA and LPN acknowledged awareness of a complaint involving third-shift staff but did not directly notify the Administrator, and Social Services was only told that the resident had a complaint, without mention of abuse. Social Services made unsuccessful attempts to speak with the resident and did not learn the concern involved abuse until the resident’s son later stated it was "elder abuse." The Administrator reported first learning of the allegation hours after staff initially became aware, and the resident stated no one from the facility had come to talk with him about what occurred.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Implement Abuse Reporting and Investigation Policy After Alleged Staff-to-Resident Abuse
D
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

The facility failed to follow its abuse prevention policy when a cognitively intact, independent resident alleged that a CNA struck her with a garbage bag after a dispute over dishes left in a shared bathroom, an event that was witnessed by another cognitively intact, independent resident with psychiatric diagnoses. The Administrator did not initially consider the event to meet the definition of abuse, did not promptly report it to the state agency, did not initiate a timely internal investigation, and allowed the CNA to continue working, despite a written policy requiring prompt reporting, investigation, and protection of residents during abuse investigations.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Investigate and Respond to Repeated Abuse, Neglect, and Misappropriation Allegations
D
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

The facility failed to follow its abuse and electronic monitoring policies by not properly identifying, documenting, or investigating multiple allegations of abuse, neglect, and misappropriation involving a resident with dementia and chronic respiratory failure. Over several weeks, the resident’s daughter reported that an LPN intimidated the resident, administered Tramadol doses too close together, failed to provide ordered medications, ignored incontinence care requests, and publicly disparaged the resident, while a CNA and another aide allegedly yelled at the resident, disrespected her belongings, and spoke to her in a demeaning manner. The daughter also reported missing personal items, including socks, a camera, and an SD card that she said contained video of staff screaming at the resident. Despite these detailed complaints, facility leadership denied knowledge of the allegations, the concern log contained no entries for the resident, and the only self-reported incident was a vague mistreatment report that lacked specific interviews with the daughter, relied on a generic questionnaire for the resident, and did not include any documented attempt to obtain or review camera footage.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Complete Required Criminal Background Checks for Direct-Care Staff
E
F0607 F607: Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Short Summary

Facility staff did not complete required Criminal Background Checks (CBCs) for three CNAs before they began working with residents, despite policies requiring background and criminal conviction checks for all direct-access employees. Review of personnel files showed no documentation that CBCs were requested or obtained for these CNAs. The administrator reported relying on verification through the Family Care Safety Registry (FCSR) and, when not registered, on requests to an external association for background checks, and acknowledged not requesting CBCs from the state highway patrol since assuming responsibility for this process.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
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