New Mexico nursing home responsiveness requirements

A licensed health care facility must report abuse, neglect or exploitation immediately to the Adult Protective Services Division, and must report abuse, neglect, exploitation, injuries of unknown origin and other reportable incidents to the DHI Health Facility Licensing and Certification Bureau within 24 hours or the next business day if it occurs on a weekend or holiday.

(2) All licensed health care facilities shall report abuse, neglect, exploitation, and injuries of unknown origin or other reportable incidents to the bureau within a 24 hour period, or the next business day when the incident occurs on a weekend or holiday.

Beyond the initial report, the facility must complete a full investigation and report the actions taken and conclusions reached within five days of discovering the incident.

C. All licensed health care facilities shall conduct a complete investigation and report the actions taken and conclusions reached by the facility within five days of discovery of the incident.

The long-term care licensure rule requires that all facility employees be instructed in the mandatory reporting requirements of the New Mexico Adult Protective Services Act for abuse, neglect or exploitation of any resident.

(4) Reporting: All employees will be instructed in the reporting requirements of Section 27-7-14 NMSA 1978, the Adult Protective Services Act, of abuse, neglect or exploitation of any resident.

Allegations that a licensed, certified or registered professional violated residents' rights must be promptly reported by the facility to the appropriate licensing or examining board and to the person accused.

Allegations that residents' rights have been violated by persons licensed, certified or registered by any professional licensing board or designated authority shall be promptly reported by the facility to the appropriate licensing or examining board or authority and to the person against whom the allegation has been made.

The facility must keep written procedures at every nurse's station for obtaining a physician in an emergency and for care pending the physician's arrival, and must post the names and telephone numbers of physicians available for emergency care at each nursing station.

C. Availability of physicians for emergency patient care: The facility shall have written procedures, available at each nurse's station, for procuring a physician to furnish necessary medical care in emergencies and for providing care pending arrival of a physician.

Each resident must be under the supervision of a physician, and every attending physician must arrange coverage for the medical care of that physician's residents during the physician's absence.

Each attending physician shall make arrangements for the medical care of the physician's residents in the physician's absence.

A skilled nursing facility must have at least one charge nurse (a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse) on duty at all times; an intermediate care facility must have a charge nurse during every tour of duty.

(a) A skilled nursing facility shall have at least one charge nurse on duty at all times.

All facilities must have at least one nursing staff person on duty around the clock, and skilled facilities must maintain a minimum nursing staffing level of 2.5 hours per patient day (2.3 for intermediate care) averaged over seven days, with staffing posted within one hour of each shift change.

E. Twenty-four (24) hour coverage: All facilities shall have at least one nursing staff person on duty at all times.

This is the closest New Mexico analog to a duty to respond to a call about a resident: any significant change in a resident's condition must be reported to the nurse in charge or the nurse ON CALL, who is then affirmatively required to take appropriate action.

(4) Any significant changes in the condition of any resident shall be reported to the nurse in charge or on call, who shall take appropriate action.

Every resident has the right to private and unrestricted communication with family, physician, attorney and any other person, expressly including the right to use a telephone for private communications during reasonable hours, and communications with public officials or the resident's attorney may never be restricted.

(2) Use a telephone for private communications during reasonable hours.

The facility must have at least one operational non-pay telephone on the premises, plus as many additional telephones as are deemed necessary in an emergency.

(6) Telephone: There shall be at least one operational non-pay telephone on the premises and as many additional telephones as are deemed necessary in an emergency.

Each facility must have a written fire and disaster procedure that specifies the persons to be notified along with alarm and extinguisher locations, evacuation routes, procedures for evacuating helpless residents, drill frequency and per-shift task assignments; the plan must be approved by the local fire authority, all employees trained on it, and a copy kept available at each nursing station.

(a) Each facility shall have a written procedure which shall be followed in case of fire or other disasters, and which shall specify persons to be notified, locations of alarm signals and fire extinguishers, evacuation routes, procedures for evacuating helpless residents, frequency of fire drills and assignment of specific tasks and responsibilities to the personnel of each shift and each discipline.

All incidents of fire in a facility must be reported to the Health Care Authority within 72 hours.

(5) Fire Report: All incidents of fire in a facility shall be reported to the authority within 72 hours.

A nurse call station is required at each resident bed, in each resident toilet room and at each bathtub and shower, with pull cords reaching to within 18 inches of the floor in toilet/bath/shower rooms, all calls registering at the nurse station and actuating a visible corridor signal, and an emergency call station in any enclosed room used by residents.

8.370.16.75 NURSE CALL SYSTEM: A nurse call station shall be installed at each resident's bed, in each resident's toilet room, and at each bathtub and shower.

Each licensed health care facility must establish and implement a quality improvement system for reviewing alleged complaints and incidents, with written documentation of corrective actions taken and documented evidence that all alleged violations were thoroughly investigated and reasonable steps taken to prevent recurrence.

E. Quality improvement system for licensed health care facilities: The licensed health care facility shall establish and implement a quality improvement system for reviewing alleged complaints and incidents. The incident management system shall include written documentation of corrective actions taken.

Each facility must establish and maintain an incident management system emphasizing prevention and staff involvement, with policies requiring all employees to be competently trained to respond to, report and document reportable incidents.

A. General: All licensed health care facilities shall establish and maintain an incident management system, which emphasizes the principles of prevention and staff involvement.

The medical director must coordinate medical care, ensure periodic evaluations of the adequacy and appropriateness of professional and supportive staff and services are conducted, and review incidents and accidents occurring on the premises to identify health and safety hazards.

Incidents and accidents that occur on the premises shall be reviewed by the medical director to identify hazards to health and safety.