7/27/16
by News Department on 07/27/16Issues in Nursing Home Care...
Pennsylvania’s Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said in a press release, Tuesday, that State health officials should do more to ensure nursing home staff levels are adequate as they move to improve oversight of those homes.
An audit, that makes nearly two dozen recommendations to improve oversight, found that the Health Department wasn’t effectively enforcing a state requirement that nursing home residents receive a minimum of 2.7 hours of direct care each day from nurses.
This involves giving medications and tubal feeding if necessary.
In response, the department said it implemented a policy in April to assess nursing staff levels at the more than 700 nursing homes in Pennsylvania.
The department created a task force last year to consider longer-term changes in nursing home oversight and its report will be ready later this summer.
The department is also considering updating nursing home regulations for the first time in nearly two decades.
