Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Published on Tue Jun 25, 2013 PDF

Survey strikes on F-315 are likely to land you with monetary penalties, in part because Level 1 of severity is no longer an option for this F-Tag. Make sure your clinical and administrative staff understand what’s at stake:

Severity Level 4 (immediate jeopardy)

Fines: $3,550 to $10,000 per day.

Example: Complications from an unnecessary catheter or extensive failure in multiple areas of urinary incontinence or catheter management.

Severity Level 3 (actual harm)

Fines: Up to $3,000 per day.

Examples: Failure to provide clinically sound catheter care, development of a symptomatic UTI from an unnecessary catheter, failure to assess and manage urine retention, decline of failure to improve continence status, resident embarrassment and humiliation.

Severity Level 2 (no actual harm, but has the potential to cause more than minimum harm)

Example: Use of an indwelling catheter without medical cause, with no complications.

Severity Level 1 (no actual harm was done, but with potential for minimal harm)

This level no longer exists under F315.