CMS — Hospice required to report suspected abuse.
CMS requires hospices to immediately report all alleged violations involving mistreatment, neglect, or verbal, mental, sexual, and physical abuse, including injuries of unknown source and misappropriation of patient property, by anyone furnishing services on behalf of the hospice, to the hospice administrator. Additionally, the hospice must take action to:
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● Immediately investigate all alleged violations involving anyone furnishing services on behalf of the hospice and immediately take action to prevent further potential violations. The hospice must conduct investigations and/or document all alleged violations in accordance with established procedures.
● Take appropriate corrective action in accordance with State law if the hospice administration or an outside body with jurisdiction such as the State survey agency or local law enforcement agency verifies the alleged violation.
● Report verified violations to State and local bodies with jurisdiction (including the State survey and certification agency) within 5 working days of becoming aware of the violation.
Failure of a hospice to act on these requirements does not prevent hospice employees from independently reporting suspected violations of patient rights to the State Survey Agency or other authorities. Anyone making a complaint to a State Survey Agency may request to remain an anonymous complainant. Each State Survey Agency maintains a toll-free complaint reporting hotline as well as other complaint reporting methods such as online, written, and fax submissions. Many hospice care providers and their staff have mandatory reporting requirements in their State making them legally responsible to report suspicions of abuse to appropriate State authorities. Hospices and their staff that suspect or detect abuse, neglect, or other violations of a patient’s rights, by people other than hospice employees should follow existing mandatory reporting requirements in their State. Programs such as Adult Protective Services (APS) can assist in reporting these instances. Furthermore, a patient and/or caregiver can contact the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO) for quality of care issues.