Hunter
12/19/23
After Republicans in the Iowa Statehouse rejected a formal request from Democrats to investigate the state’s nursing home crisis, saying regulators are already too busy monitoring those facilities, a report on nursing home inspections shows that the state isn’t meeting the federally mandated standards for nursing home oversight, with some care facilities waiting up to 41 months for an annual inspection.
Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Federal regulations require that no more than 15.9 months elapse between annual inspections at individual Medicaid-certified nursing homes. The regulations also require that, collectively, the state inspect all nursing homes on an average of 12.9 months, if not sooner.
Over 150 care facilities in the state waited at least 16 months for their annual inspections, some of which the subject of complaints that led to fines and citations from the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, or DIAL.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch asked DIAL about the reason for the delays. A spokesperson said they will catch up on recertifications in the upcoming fiscal year that begins in October. Diane McCool had “nothing further” to add as to whether federal guidelines were in effect for Iowa in the current fiscal year or whether those guidelines had been waived or suspended.
Before the 2020 pandemic, DIAL reportedly had failed to meet the inspection timeline standard in every month since October 2017.