The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report and recommendations for nursing facilities to develop and implement written policies related to reporting allegations of resident abuse and neglect. The OIG report indicated that only 76 percent of the 250 nursing facilities surveyed maintained policies that address federal regulations for reporting both allegations of abuse or neglect and investigation results. Moreover, in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect, after reporting the allegation only 53 percent reported the subsequent investigation results as federally required. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) agreed with the OIG’s recommendations to explore additional measures to promote compliance.

A link to the OIG report is here: http://go.usa.gov/Em99.