|
In February 2024, Affinity Health Services was engaged by a skilled nursing facility in Wilmington, DE, following the issuance of a required state monitoring mandate by the Delaware Dept. of Health and Social Services, Division of Health Care Quality. This requirement was imposed due to the facility’s ongoing non-compliance with federal regulations and designation as a Special Focus Facility (SFF) in 2022.
Between August 2022 and February 2024, the facility underwent three full Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) surveys, each resulting in 12 to 19 citations, including Immediate Jeopardy-level deficiencies. Due to the severity and repetition of deficiencies, the facility was placed on a termination track with CMS, prompting the state agency to require third-party oversight and monitoring.
Upon engagement, Affinity Health Services began daily monitoring of the facility’s electronic medical record clinical entries, orders, and concerns requiring follow-up. This information was compiled into daily reports for facility leadership and reviewed during morning clinical meetings. Nursing leadership was directed to use the clinical meeting follow-up form to document all identified areas requiring investigation, or additional follow-up. Affinity consultants then verified the timely and appropriate actions related to the identified needs.
Following Affinity’s intervention, the facility demonstrated marked improvement. Three subsequent surveys yielded fewer than 11 federal citations total, all with a scope and severity of “E” or lower. The facility successfully met the CMS graduation criteria from the SFF program and officially exited the Special Focus Facility list in July 2025.
Read more in our Affinity Case Study: The Pathway to Regulatory Compliance Recovery A Special Focus Facility’s Road to Graduation.
| 
