This report was published on September 29, 2017.
By Claire Hughes
Two reports out Friday criticized state oversight agencies for slow
responses to allegations against nurses and nursing homes that have the
potential to impact the safety of patients and residents.
An audit
from the state comptroller’s office found New York’s Education
Department took on average five times longer than it should have to
investigate complaints of serious offenses by nurses – including sexual
or physical abuse, or working under the influence of alcohol.
And a federal report
on states’ response to complaints against nursing homes found that New
York topped other states in its number of late investigations into
high-priority allegations of harm to residents, accounting for one-fifth
of delayed investigations in the nation.
Officials from both state agencies said they have made improvements since the periods studied in the reports.
SED’s Office of Professions monitors nursing
licensure and practice, including investigating complaints and
prosecuting misconduct.
SED is expected to investigate the most serious complaints against
nurses, designated “priority 1,” within 42 days. The comptroller’s
audit, covering the period from April 2014 to February 2017, found it
took on average 228 days for these investigations to be complete. One
case was open for 866 days – more than two years – by the end of the
audit period.
SED failed to follow up in a timely
way on many alleged lower-level offenses as well, auditors found. Of
more than 8,000 investigations of various degrees of importance open
during the audit period, more than 2,000, or 25 percent, were not
conducted within the department’s established 180-day time frame.
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Source: The Times Union
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