198.527. Inspectors and surveyors of long-term care facilities--uniformity of application of regulation standards.

Inspectors and surveyors of long-term care facilities--uniformity ofapplication of regulation standards.

198.527. To ensure uniformity of application of regulation standardsin long-term care facilities throughout the state, the department of healthand senior services shall:

(1) Evaluate the requirements for inspectors or surveyors offacilities, including the eligibility, training and testing requirementsfor the position.Based on the evaluation, the department shall develop and implementadditional training and knowledge standards for inspectors and surveyors;

(2) Periodically evaluate the performance of the inspectors orsurveyors regionally and statewide to identify any deviations orinconsistencies in regulation application. At a minimum, the Missourion-site surveyor evaluation process, and the number and type of actionsoverturned by the informal dispute resolution process under section 198.545and formal appeal shall be used as part of the evaluation. Based on suchevaluation, the department shall develop standards and a retraining processfor the region, state, or individual inspector or surveyor, as needed;

(3) In addition to the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of thissection, the department shall develop a single uniform comprehensive andmandatory course of instruction for inspectors/surveyors on the practicalapplication of enforcement of statutes, rules and regulations. Such courseshall also be open to attendance by administrators and staff of facilitieslicensed pursuant to this chapter.

(L. 1999 H.B. 316, et al. § 2, A.L. 2009 H.B. 395)