Could providing insufficient food or food that does not meet the individual needs of residents result in submitting a false claim?
Compliance Perspective – Insufficient Food
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Registered Dietician/Food Services Director will review policies and procedures for providing sufficient food that meets the residents’ individual nutritional needs.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Registered Dietician/Food Services Director will ensure that staff are trained to respond in a timely manner to concerns about providing sufficient food according to the facility’s policies and procedures and the individual needs of residents.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Registered Dietician/Food Services Director should conduct an audit to ensure that residents are being provided with sufficient food, and that it meets their individual needs.
Staff, residents and family members complained about insufficient staffing, scarcity of food and poor business practices, such as not returning deposits to residents. Although the state had received complaints for several months, the scarcity of food was the major factor that caused the state to intervene. The three nursing homes care for about 200 residents and are owned by a Texas-based entity.
Staff reported that when food became scarce, they would purchase food from Costco with their own money.
