complaint·December 16, 2024

LPA conducted an interview with R1’s POA agent who reported they were informed by R1's family that R1 was observed more confused than usual and required medication. R1's POA agent reported R1 has a private caregiver who reported to them that R1's level of confusion was at their baseline. R1's POA agent reported they never instructed facility staff to not administer the medication and were simply waiting on additional information from medical professionals before agreeing to the medication in question due to receiving conflicting information from R1’s family and private caregiver. Assistant Healthcare Director (AHD), Veronica Chavez was interviewed, corroborated the information provided by R1’s POA agent, and reported the facility did not have a signed doctor’s order to administer the medication on 8/6/2024. AHD reported they assessed R1 on 8/6/2024 and 8/7/2024 and R1 was not observed with any symptoms of acute distress. AHD reported the facility received the signed doctor’s order for the medication in question on 8/8/2024 and immediately began administering the medication as prescribed. LPA reviewed R1’s hospice care plan dated 2/2/2024 and conducted an interview with R1’s case manager who corroborated the facility did not receive a signed doctor’s order to administer the medication until 8/8/2024. LPA reviewed hospice’s “Written Confirmation of Telephone Orders” dated 8/7/24 for the medication in question, which noted the physician’s signature was obtained on 8/8/2024. LPA reviewed the Physician’s Order as of 8/16/2024 where the facility documented receiving the medication on 8/8/2024. LPA reviewed R1’s medication administration record for August 2024 and the facility documented administering the medication in question from 8/8/2024 to 8/16/2024. LPA also made contact with the reporting party who reported they do not have any concerns with the care or supervision R1 receives at the facility including medication management. This agency has investigated the complaint alleging “Staff are not administering medication(s) to resident according to physicians instructions”. We have found that the complaint was unfounded, meaning that the allegation was false, could not have happened and/or is without a reasonable basis. An exit interview was conducted, and a copy of this report was provided to Administrator Gomez.