Published: April 22, 2008 12:53 am      

New vet facility still has problems

FAIRMONT — State health care licensing inspectors found seven new “deficiencies” and 14 repeat problems in an early March inspection of the state’s new Veterans Nursing Facility in Clarksburg, documents show.

It was the second time the facility has failed an inspection by the state Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC). The facility only began taking residents late last year, although it was dedicated in 2006.

Located next to the federal Veterans Administration hospital in Clarksburg, the facility and its staff have to obtain a state license before getting a federal license, said Joe Thornton.

“It’s a demanding process,” said Thornton, the deputy secretary for the state Military Affairs and Public Safety department.

The state inspectors are scheduled to return for yet another inspection sometime after May 5, Thornton said.

The state inspectors intensively reviewed the documentation associated with each resident’s care as part of their on-site visit. The inspection was made March 2-5.

“To gain licensure is much more demanding than it is to keep it,” Thornton said.

Just one deficiency is enough to fail the licensing test. Many of the new problems involved documentation and record keeping of patient care and follow through by the facility’s interdisciplinary team, according to a recently released 80-page report.

Others were in the areas of quality of care, activities of daily living, urinary incontinence, dietary staffing and pharmacy services.

The repeat deficiencies were in the areas of infection control, maintenance and housekeeping, frequency of meals, menus and nutritional adequacy, accidents, care-plan services, development of care plans and comprehensive assessments.

The extremely detailed report focuses on the care provided eight residents currently living in the new $26 million facility.

OHFLAC is part of the state Health and Human Resources department.

John Law, a DHHR spokesman, said the office’s report “stands for itself.”

“DHHR will continue to work with the state Veterans Administration and all nursing home providers in the state to ensure patients receive the best health care in a safe environment,” Law said in a statement Monday.

The facility did not demonstrate “substantial compliance” with the state’s nursing home licensure rule, the state inspectors wrote.

The facility “must submit an acceptable plan of correction for each deficient practice cited (and) all corrective actions must be completed by the dates specified within each plan,” the report states.

The inspections are designed to find problems “that pose the potential for more than minimal harm” to a nursing home’s residents.

“All other residents (in a facility) have the potential to be affected when care plans and comprehensive resident assessments are not completed accurately and comprehensive care plans (are not) developed with measurable objectives and timetables to meet each resident’s medical, nursing, mental and psychosocial needs,” the inspectors stated.

In its response, the facility’s staff and interdisciplinary care team said they have updated and reviewed the care plans for six of the home’s eight residents. The facility currently has about 50 employees.

E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.