McKnight’s Long-Term Care News author, Danielle Brown, reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are considering making adjustments to the emergency protocol after a “federal audit” indicated that many nursing home facilities across the nation are not adhering to existing regulations. The report examined one-hundred and fifty-four nursing homes across eight states in which it was found that “2,233” different categories of emergency and safety protocols were violated in one-hundred and fifty of these nursing homes. The article mentions around one-half of these categories of violation concerned fire and smoking safety while the other half pertained to emergency routes and planning. The office of the Inspector General attributes these violations to low staffing levels, substandard nursing home managers, and faulty supervision by “state survey agencies”.  Now, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services want to propose new regulations in which nursing homes would be obligated to report broken smoke alarms, fire sprinkler systems, and carbon monoxide detectors in order that they may be properly replaced. In addition to these new regulations, Brown writes that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants “state survey agencies” to mandate safety training for all nursing home employees. These upgrades to current nursing emergency protocols will prove to be positive for the nursing home industry as many lives could be saved, and residents deserve to be in a facility that values the safety of its inhabitants and employees.

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