3701-17-06 Responsibility of operator and nursing home administrator; quality assurance committee.

(A) The operator is responsible for the operation of the nursing home, for payment of the annual license renewal fee to the director, for such reports as may be required, and for compliance with Chapter 3721. of the Revised Code, Chapters 3701-13 and 3701-61, and rules 3701-17-01 to 3701-17-26 of the Administrative Code, and all federal, state, and local laws applicable to the operation of a nursing home.

(B) Each operator shall appoint an administrator. The administrator is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the nursing home in accordance with rules 3701-17-01 to 3701-17-26 of the Administrative Code, for implementing the provisions of section3721.12 of the Revised Code, and for ensuring that individuals used by the home are competent to perform their job responsibilities and that services are provided in accordance with acceptable standards of practice.

(C) Each nursing home shall establish and maintain a quality assurance committee consisting of the director of nursing, the medical director or physician designee and at least three other members of the home’s staff.

(1) The quality assurance committee shall meet at least quarterly to systematically monitor and evaluate the quality of care and quality of life provided in the home, review and investigate incidents and accidents that have occurred in the home, including, but not limited to, those related to the use of restraints as required by rule paragraph (H) of rule 3701-17-15 of the Administrative Code, identify problems and trends, and develop and implement appropriate plans of action to correct identified problems.

(2) The records of the quality committee meetings are not required to be disclosed to the director. The director shall verify through interviews with committee members and, as necessary, direct care staff that the home has a quality assurance committee which addresses quality concerns, that staff know how to access that process, and that the committee has established a protocol or method for addressing specific quality problems in the nursing home that the home believes to have now been resolved.

(3) Good faith attempts by the committee to identify and correct quality deficiencies will not be used as a basis for sanctions.

R.C. 119.032 review dates: 05/19/2006 and 05/01/2011

Promulgated Under: 119.03

Statutory Authority: 3721.04

Rule Amplifies: 3721.01 to 3721.33

Prior Effective Dates: 3/1/1971, 12/21/92, 9/5/97, 10/20/2001