West Virginia nursing home responsiveness requirements

All alleged violations involving mistreatment, neglect, exploitation, abuse (including of unknown source) or misappropriation of resident property must be reported in accordance with state law, thoroughly investigated and documented, with the results of every investigation reported to the administrator and to the OHFLAC director within five working days of the incident.

The results of all investigations shall be reported to the administrator or his or her designated representative and to other officials in accordance with state law, including the director within five working days of the incident, and if the alleged violation is verified appropriate corrective action shall be taken.

A nursing home must provide or arrange for physician services 24 hours a day in case of an emergency.

Availability of physicians for emergency care. A nursing home shall provide or arrange for the provision of physician services 24 hours a day, in case of an emergency.

West Virginia exceeds the federal floor: staffing must average at least 2.25 hours of nursing personnel time per resident per day, a licensed nurse must serve as charge nurse on every shift, a registered nurse must be on duty at least eight consecutive hours seven days a week, and whenever no RN is on duty an RN must be on call.

8.14.5. Nurse on Call. If there is not a registered professional nurse on duty, there shall be a registered professional nurse on call.

West Virginia does have a direct analog, located in the Quality of Life article rather than the Residents' Rights article. Section 5.3 (Privacy) guarantees a resident reasonable access to a telephone placed in a quiet area where a private conversation can be held without being overheard or disturbed; 5.3.1 separately guarantees the right to associate and communicate privately with persons of the resident's choice; 5.3.2 requires personal mail be delivered unopened unless the resident has asked otherwise; and 5.3.6 extends reasonable access and privacy to electronic communications such as email and video calls where the nursing home has such access available, at the resident's expense if the home incurs additional cost.

5.3.5. Telephone. A resident shall be assured reasonable access to a telephone located in a quiet area where the resident can conduct a private conversation without being overheard or disturbed by others.

A nursing home must keep a director-approved written internal and external disaster and emergency preparedness plan, review and re-sign it annually, keep copies visible at all staff or emergency control stations, and conspicuously post emergency call information near every non-resident-room telephone including fire, police and ambulance numbers plus the administrator, the director of nursing or nurse on call, the maintenance or safety director, and the physician on call.

Emergency call information shall be conspicuously posted near each telephone in the nursing home, exclusive of telephones in resident rooms.

West Virginia writes NO standalone nurse-call / resident-call-system requirement of its own; it instead adopts by reference the current FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction and NFPA 99 for construction and renovation, and separately requires at least one free-to-use telephone or extension on each resident-occupied unit to summon help in an emergency.

A nursing home shall have at least one telephone or one extension on each resident occupied unit and additional telephones and extensions if needed, that do not require any form of payment to operate, to summon help in case of an emergency.

A nursing home must maintain a quality improvement and assessment committee consisting of the director of nursing, the medical director and at least three other staff, meeting no less than quarterly to identify quality issues, implement corrective plans of action, continuously measure and improve resident care functions, benchmark outcome data against other extended care providers, and review resident satisfaction.

13.1.1. A nursing home shall maintain a quality improvement and assessment committee consisting of: 13.1.1.a. The director of nursing services; 13.1.1.b. The medical director; and 13.1.1.c. At least three other members of the nursing home's staff.