SNF rooms to hot for residents

Living in a Sunbelt state, I know how hot it can get in the summer months.  I recently ran across a July 2015 decision from HHS’ Departmental Appeals Board (DAB) reviewing the imposition of a “per instance” monetary penalty CMS assessed against an Arizona SNF.

CMS’s allegations in this case are predicated on complaints that portions of Petitioner’s facility – including several residents’ rooms – were uncomfortably hot. Those allegations are supported by the complaints of several residents and by temperature readings taken by a surveyor on July 16, 2014. Readings taken by the surveyor showed portions of some of the residents’ rooms being as hot as 90 degrees Fahrenheit…. Such temperatures plainly exceed what any reasonable person would consider to be “comfortable.” On their face they comprise violations of 42 C.F.R. § 483.15(h)(6).

After discussing the ways the surveyor and the SNF measured the temperatures inside the SNF, the ALJ in the opinion notes

The overwhelming evidence is that rooms at Petitioner’s facility were uncomfortably hot due to the failure of the facility’s air conditioning system. Arizona in July is a very hot place. Building interiors in that State that are not adequately air conditioned can become dangerously hot. As Petitioner admits, the air conditioning in its facility had failed to work adequately in July 2014. The failure prompted residents to complain that their rooms had become uncomfortably hot…. The staff took various measures to address the failure of the air conditioning system, including closing curtains in residents’ rooms and conducting random temperature checks….

“The evidence that residents were not comfortable is overwhelming, beginning with these residents’ complaints and further evidenced by the fact that Petitioner’s own staff recognized that there were problems with overheating in the residents’ rooms.”  The ALJ upheld the penalty.