Iowa Admin. Code r. 481-50.10 - Inspections, exit interviews, plans of correction, and revisits
(1) Frequency of
inspection. The department shall inspect a licensed health care facility at
least once within a 30-month period. Facilities participating in the Medicare
or Medicaid programs may be inspected more frequently as a part of a joint
state and federal inspection.
(2)
Accessibility of records, the facility and persons. An inspector of the
department may enter any licensed health care facility without a warrant and
may examine all records pertaining to the care provided to residents of the
facility. An inspector of the department may contact or interview any resident,
employee, or any other person who might have knowledge about the operation of a
health care facility. The inspector may duplicate records and take photographs
as part of the inspection.
(3) Exit
interviews. The health care facility shall be provided an exit interview at the
conclusion of an inspection, and the facility representative shall be informed
of all issues and areas of concern related to the deficiencies.
a. Methods of conducting exit interview. The
department may conduct the exit interview either in person or by
telephone.
b. Second exit
interviews. The department shall conduct a second exit interview if any
additional areas of concern are identified.
(4) Submission of additional or rebuttal information.
The facility shall be provided two working days from the date of the exit
interview to submit additional or rebuttal information to the department .
a. Receipt of additional information.
Additional or rebuttal information must be received by the department within
two working days in order to be considered.
b. Methods to submit additional information. The
additional or rebuttal information may be submitted via E-mail, facsimile, or
overnight courier to the department .
c. Inform of the opportunity to submit additional or
rebuttal information. During the inspection, the facility shall be informed of
the opportunity to submit additional or rebuttal information and of the contact
information for the department .
(5) Standards for determining whether a deficiency
exists. The department shall use a preponderance of the evidence standard when
determining whether a regulatory deficiency exists. For purposes of this rule
and rule 481-50.11 (135C), "preponderance
of the evidence standard" means that the evidence, considered and compared with
the evidence opposed to it, produces the belief in a reasonable mind that the
allegations or deficiency is more likely true than not true. This standard does
not require that the inspector personally witnessed the alleged
violation.
(6) Statement of
deficiencies. When one or more deficiencies are found, a statement of
deficiencies detailing each deficiency shall be sent by the department to the
health care facility within ten working days of the exit interview.
(7) Plan of correction. Within ten calendar
days following receipt of the statement of deficiencies, the health care
facility shall submit a plan of correction to the department .
a. Contents of plan. The plan of correction
shall contain the following information:
(1)
How the facility will correct the deficient practice;
(2) How the facility will act to protect
residents;
(3) The measures the
facility will take or the systems it will alter to ensure that the problem does
not recur;
(4) How the facility
plans to monitor its performance to make sure that solutions are sustained;
and
(5) Date(s) when corrective
action will be completed.
b. Review of plan. The department shall review the
plan of correction within ten working days of receipt. The department may
request additional information or revisions to the plan, which shall be
provided as requested.
(8) Revisits. If a facility licensed under this
chapter is subject to or will be subject to denial of payment including payment
for Medicare or medical assistance (Medicaid) under Iowa Code chapter 249A, or
denial of payment for all new admissions pursuant to
42 CFR Section
488.417, and submits a plan of correction
relating to the deficiencies or a response to a citation issued under
481-Chapter 56 and the department elects to conduct an on-site revisit
inspection, the department shall commence the revisit inspection within the
shortest time feasible of the date that the plan of correction is received or
the date specified within the plan of correction alleging compliance, whichever
is later.
(9) Appeals of statement
of deficiencies. The facility may appeal the statement of deficiencies by
filing an appeal request with the department within 20 working days after
receipt of the statement of deficiencies. The procedures defined in rule
481-50.6 (10A) shall be followed
for the appeal.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.