Central Island Healthcare Cited for Psychotropic Medication Use

Central Island Healthcare received 29 citations for violations of public health code between 2018 and 2022, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on April 15, 2022. The Plainview nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of four surveys by state inspectors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:

1. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from the unnecessary use of psychotropic medications. Section 483.45 of the Federal Code stipulates that nursing homes who have not used psychotropic medications should not be given them unless medically necessary. An August 2019 citation found that Central Island Healthcare failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes a resident who was started on an unspecified antipsychotic medication “without any documented evidence of the clinical need for the medication.” The citation goes on to state that the medication’s administration frequency was increased from once a day to twice at day at the request of the resident’s family, and that the dosage was doubled “due to a medication error entry.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the resident’s examination by a physician and a psychiatrist, after which the resident’s medication dosage was adjusted.

2. Central Healthcare was also cited for unnecessary psychotropics medication use in January 2022. According to this citation, the facility administered an as-needed psychotropic medication “on two occasions with no documented evidence for the need to use the antianxiety medication nor non-pharmacological interventions attempted prior to the administration of the antianxiety medication.” In an interview, a registered nurse said that they gave the resident the medication in question after the resident asked for it, and that they sometimes “document in a progress note when giving an as-needed medication, but not always.” In a separate interview, the facility’s Director of Nursing Services said that whenever an as-needed medication is administered, “there has to be documentation as to why the medication was administered and what non-pharmacological interventions were attempted before administering the medication.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included a psychiatric evaluation of the resident, which determined that the medication order was appropriate.

3. The nursing home did not implement adequate infection-control practices. Under Section 483.80 of the Federal Code, nursing homes must create and uphold a program designed to prevent and control infection. A January 2022 citation found that Central Island Healthcare failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes the resident’s failure to ensure a Legionella culture sampling process “was completed annually for the potable water system.” According to the citation, while the facility completed such a sampling in 2019 and 2021, it lacked evidence of such a process completed in 2021. In an interview, the facility’s Director of Engineering Services said that they “did not obtain water samples in the year 2020.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the collection of water samples and scheduling of the following year’s water sampling process.

The attorneys at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC work diligently to protect the rights of nursing home residents.  Please contact us to discuss in the event you have a potential case involving neglect or abuse.