In a letter last month to county, state and federal officials, inspector Kimberly Nguyen cited 11 cases in which she said the dates typed into the computer system were later than the dates the complaints were actually received. The cases mentioned in the letter involve alleged abuse, falls and pressure sores, she said.
“In my belief, falsification is a serious matter and unlawful and our department should know better to not manipulate paperwork to mislead others and the public,” Nguyen wrote in the Oct. 7 letter.
...Meanwhile, the state, which directly oversees nursing homes in every district except Los Angeles County, has had its own history of problems with timely investigations. A lawsuit by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, or CANHR, resulted in a 2006 order by a Superior Court judge instructing public health officials to follow the law regarding investigation timelines.
Geraneo noted that order in her e-mail to administrators, referring to a case involving a non-working generator in which the complaint year had allegedly been changed from 2013 to 2014. “We cannot change the initiation dates of these complaints because of the CANHR lawsuit!”
Geraneo declined to be interviewed.
Since Kaiser Health News began writing about the department’s health facilities inspection division in March, administrators have sent e-mails to staff telling them not to speak to the media and to forward all requests. Reached by phone, several inspectors have declined to talk, saying they feared retaliation.
Nguyen said she has been she has been targeted for retaliation as a result of raising questions since July 2013 about the quality of nursing home oversight.
In May 2014, Nguyen was suspended for five days without pay because she allegedly failed to renew her nursing license. A department letter said her license expired on November 30, 2013 and that she worked for six days without a valid license.
But as the Board of Nursing later confirmed in writing, her license actually had been renewed promptly. The Board simply hadn’t entered the renewal on its website.
L.A. County Health Dept. Allegedly Falsified Nursing Home Records
Two Los
Angeles County Public Health Department employees allege that the
department falsified the dates it received nursing home complaints in
order to meet state deadlines for launching investigations, Kaiser Health News reports.
Background
Under state law,
investigations must be launched within 10 days of receiving a nursing
home complaint -- or within 24 hours if the complaint involves the
threat of death or serious harm.
The California
Public Health Department requires inspectors to enter dates based on
when the complaint was first received by phone, fax, email or letter.
Details of Falsified Records
In a letter
sent last month to county, state and federal officials, Inspector
Kimberly Nguyen cited 11 cases in which she found records with falsified
dates.
The dates entered were much later -- as much as 79 days --than the dates the allegations actually had been submitted.
The cases involved complaints about:
- Abuse;
- Falls; and
- Pressure sores.
According to KHN, Nguyen said she believes the date manipulation was deliberate (Gorman, Kaiser Health News, 11/10).
Nguyen said her
supervisor, Adewole Adegoke, has been aware of the record falsification
since July but has made no effort to stop the practice (Nguyen Letter,
10/7). She wrote, "In my belief, falsification is a serious matter and
unlawful, and our department should know better to not manipulate
paperwork to mislead others and the public."
Meanwhile, Sharon
Geraneo, an assistant supervisor at the department, sent a separate
email in August about the department allegedly falsifying records.
Response to Allegations
The county
Department of Public Health said it has "zero tolerance for intentional
document falsification" and is not aware of any deliberate
falsification.
Officials said
that they had identified a data entry error by one individual that
affected 35 cases but that "swift and appropriate corrective actions"
were taken.
The California Department of Public Health said it is investigating the allegations (Kaiser Health News, 11/10).
