Assisted living communities and nursing home leaders and potential leaders in Arizona will face heightened scrutiny after the findings of a recent state audit.
The Arizona auditor general’s office found that the Arizona Board of Examiners of Nursing Care Institution Administrators and Assisted Living Facility Managers in some instances did not investigate and address complaints against licensed administrators and certified managers in a timely manner. The finding applied to five of 20 complaints that were randomly sampled by the auditor.
“Specifically, the board took between 223 and 589 days to investigate and adjudicate these five complaints,” the board said. “Untimely complaint investigation and adjudication may put some residents at risk” because leaders could continue working while being investigated, even though they may have violated board statutes and rules.
The auditor’s office recommended that the board improve the way it responds to complaints and monitors compliance with its policies and procedures.
The state also reviewed a random sample of 32 applications for administrator and manager positions and found that in 12 cases, the board did not ensure that applicants met all licensure/certification requirements.
Ten of the reviewed applications did not include identification with a photo, two did not include evidence that the applicants had valid fingerprint clearance cards, and one did not provide documentation showing lawful presence in the country.
“Meeting these requirements confirms that applicants are legally authorized to work in Arizona and that, as of the date board staff check the fingerprint clearance card’s validity, applicants have not been convicted of a precluding criminal offense,” the auditor’s office said. “This is important because some licensed administrators and certified managers work with vulnerable populations.”
The auditor’s office recommended that the board continue to implement new policies and procedures to ensure that applicants meet requirements for lawful presence and fingerprint clearance card validity.
The board agreed with these and other recommendations stemming from the audit.
