All Home Health Agencies must have a license to operate in Pennsylvania. Inspections of Home Health Agencies are called surveys. The Department of Health surveys Home Health Agencies to make sure they are following state licensure regulations and federal regulations (rules). The federal regulations apply when Home Health Agencies choose to receive reimbursement for their patients' care from the Medicare and/or Medicaid programs.
During a Home Health Agency survey, areas of non-compliance with regulations are identified. The department staff, also known as surveyors, write an official report of their observations and record them on a form called the HCFA 2567. For every problem that is identified, the surveyors must decide how serious the problem is for the patients. The surveyors write a description of the problems, which is then called a "statement of deficiencies". A copy of the report is sent to the Home Health Agency requiring that a plan to fix the problems be submitted. The Home Health Agency must submit in writing their proposed solutions to the identified problems. This is called a "plan of correction". You can ask to see a copy of this report from the Home Health Agency, or you can view these reports on the Department of Health web site.
When you look at the HCFA 2567 please keep in mind that the report only tells you what was observed on the dates of the survey. It is simply a "snapshot" of the care provided by the agency during the survey time frame. Since that date, conditions at the agency could have changed.
When you select a survey to review from our county map you will notice several things. This is a slightly modified version of the HCFA version that identifies sections noting the regulation, observation and findings. The surveyors write these sections, and each contains information for the agency and public to understand how their conclusions were reached.
The heading regulation identifies the specific rule from the federal guidelines with which the agency was not complying. It may also include reference to other regulations that could be used in citing the particular area of non-compliance.
The section observation and findings describe the process by which a surveyor gathers information. Detailed documentation of observations of deficient practice assist the provider in identifying when and where the deficient practice was observed and, as appropriate, the duration of each observation. Essentially, the statement of findings describes the specific results and consequences of the home health agency's deficient practice for the individual cases reported in the findings.
Immediately following the section written by the surveyors, you will find a section entitled "Plan of Correction - To be completed: Date." This section is written by the home health agency and tells you what steps they will take to correct the problems noted on the HCFA 2567 and the date they expect to have the problem corrected.