Provider Letters: Incident Reporting and Provider/Survey Conference

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) issued a provider letter to Licensed Nursing Facilities, Medicare/Medicaid-certified Nursing Facilities, and Skilled Nursing Facilities about guidelines for reporting incidents. Superseding guidelines dated July 14, 2000, the revised guidelines require any facility staffer who believes a resident has been abused, neglected, or exploited by another staffer [...]

Long Term Care Providers Prepare for Disasters

Because of nightmarish stories like this one, long term care providers are doing more to prepare for disasters, natural and man-made. An organization called Mather LifeWays Institute created a program called PREPARE to train long term care providers in preparing for disasters and public health emergencies. (Senior Journal) To learn more about PREPARE, see the [...]

‘Unusual Incidents’ of Hurricane Rita

Sounds like an ominous title for a documentary, doesn’t it? In many ways, it could be. All providers must follow the prescribed reporting guidelines when reporting “unusual incidents” associated with Hurricane Rita to the Consumer Rights and Services Division by calling 1-800-458-9858 (see PDF copy of provider letter). The reasons go without saying, but just [...]

Joint Investigations of Abuse & Neglect in Nursing Homes

On March 22, 2005, DADS issued Provider Letter #05-13–Joint Investigation of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Allegations. This letter notifes nursing homes that DADS will notify local law enforcement of abuse and neglect allegations of the nature that statutorily requires DADS to investigate within 24 hours: A resident(‘s): health or safety is in imminent danger, [...]

Written Statements for Incident Reports

Lately, several people have asked me about the advisability of having employees write statements to accompany reports of incidents sent to DADS. It is my position that having your employees write such statements is neither advisable or required. Thus, the next question is–how do you conduct your investigation if you don’t have your employees write [...]