Nursing Home Survey Results: What You Need to Know and Do

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Jonathan Lips

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is spotlighting COVID-19 survey results on the Nursing Home Compare home page. The results of surveys conducted since March 4 (complaints and infection control focused surveys) will be listed and available for the public to download, including a spreadsheet summarizing the findings from each inspection.  

CMS has always posted state survey reports on Nursing Home Compare, but it’s notable that the agency is specifically drawing the public’s attention to them in this way. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has conducted an onsite infection control focused survey for 100% of our nursing homes, but the information available from CMS is significantly incomplete at this stage, due to a time lag in surveys being entered into ASPEN.

Minnesota’s Infection Control Focus Survey Results

Last week we obtained data from MDH for the Infection Control Focused Surveys and here is a summary of what we’ve learned so far.

• Surveys Conducted: 367
• Cited: 33% of facilities (120) were cited for deficient practice(s), and all of those at F880
• Not cited: 66% were deficiency free.
• Scope & severity of tags issued:
  • Level D: 7%
  • Level E: 17%
  • Level F: 73%
  • Levels G-I: 0%
  • Levels J-L: 3%
• Emergency Preparedness:  MDH also inspected all nursing homes for compliance with Emergency Preparedness requirements, and only 2 facilities received an E-tag.

Our review of the 120 survey findings revealed the issues most commonly cited (number of findings, not number of surveys), with staff screening leading the list:

We are now deep-diving into the findings to identify practice tips and opportunities for improvement, and we will provide a topic-by-topic look at those beginning next week.

State Posts Backlog of Survey Findings

The MDH webpages Search for Minnesota Health Care Provider Complaints and View Facility and Provider Complaint and Survey Findings have been updated with a significant number of complaint survey findings for nursing facilities and all other federally-certified provider types. 

As we understand it, these are findings from the licensing and certification survey team, not the state vulnerable adults act maltreatment determinations, which have consistently been posted. The batch includes both substantiated and unsubstantiated survey findings. For quite some time, MDH has been unable to post these survey findings for technical reasons (we aren’t certain what the issues were).  You, the providers, have been receiving these survey reports along the way, but the public has not been able to access them through the MDH search engines.

The MDH announcement of this action offers these notes:

• What you need to do: Nothing is required of health care providers. This is to inform you of these changes, which will be available to members of the public via MDH’s website.
• How will this affect me? As a health care provider, you are already subject to regular surveys and complaint investigations. With increased numbers of trained complaint investigators, complaints will be investigated quickly and will be communicated to MDH’s surveyors to ensure an efficient, transparent, and accurate inspection process. This will lead to clearer understanding about potential violations and more frequent communication about remedies needed to ensure health care standards are maintained at required levels for the safety and well-being of residents.
• What if I have questions about a complaint?  Email health.fpc-web@state.mn.us or call 651-201-4101.

We have asked MDH for the number of survey reports that have been posted, and covering what period of time, but have not yet heard back.  We recommend that you search one or both of the sites linked above, to gain insight into what information is now posted for your facility, as it’s possible that community members, or media, may be mining this information.