Audit: Maryland Homes Lack Inspections

The Maryland agency in charge of inspecting health-care facilities failed to conduct required annual inspections at more than half of the state’s assisted-living homes, according to a state audit released last week.
The state Office of Legislative Audits found that the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ), which operates within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, did not perform the inspections at 53 percent of the facilities during fiscal 2010, and that the agency also failed that year to inspect more than 75 percent of care providers for the developmentally disabled.
The agency’s lackluster inspection record has been a problem for much of the past decade and state health officials have often blamed it on heavy workload and understaffing, legislative auditor Bruce A. Myers said.
“It’s always been a pretty large percent of these not getting looked at,” he said. “If you’re not going to get more resources, maybe you have to make some changes.”