Investigators in Utah had a perfect rate of responses to complaints where nursing home residents were perceived to be in immediate jeopardy or actual harm, according to a new federal report.
Only three other states investigated each nursing home complaint within the time frames required by federal law, the U.S. Department of Human Services' Office of Inspector General found in its analysis released this month.
"As you can see from these statistics, we're good about investigating those complaints," said Cody Craynor, spokesman for the Utah Department of Health. The department's Health Facility Licensing Certification and Resident Assessment program in 2004 responded to a total of 304 complaints in 94 Medicaid- and Medicare-licensed facilities.
Utah's program has historically performed well on such evaluations, Craynor said.
"It's more than just investigating complaints . . . it's about getting to know the facilities, getting to know the administrators and the staff and getting to know the residents that live there," he said.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provides state agencies with guidelines for investigating complaints against the facilities and monitors compliance with those rules. In 2004, Utah received 56 "immediate jeopardy" complaints and 68 "actual harm" complaints, the report states.
Immediate jeopardy complaints must be investigated within two working days; complaints alleging actual harm require a 10-day response.
All complaints against Utah facilities fell within the guidelines, according to the study, compared to states like Connecticut and New Mexico, which each had 33 percent of their immediate jeopardy complaints not investigated within two days.
Mississippi fared the worst in the study, with 93 percent of their immediate jeopardy complaints and 98 percent of actual harm complaints not investigated within the required federal time frames.
Nationally, states failed 7 percent of the time to investigate the more serious immediate-jeopardy complaints within two working days, and 27 percent of actual harm complaints were not responded to before the expiration of the 10-day time frame, according to the report.
Ultimately, the report made several recommendations, including strengthening federal oversight of nursing home complaint investigations and conducting additional follow-up beyond the standard annual performance report.
Anyone who has a concern about a Utah nursing home, be it a resident, a family member or friend of a resident or staff member, can call the health department to lodge a complaint. That toll-free number is 1-800-662-4157.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com