Maryland health department fails to inspect most assisted living facilities

By Margaret Sessa Hawkins | Maryland Reporter

There are over 1,300 licensed assisted living facilities in Maryland caring for thousands of residents not quite able to care for themselves. But year after year over the past decade the state health department has failed to do annual inspections for a majority of them.

Another audit of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Regulatory Services has found that the department has failed to fix many of the problems highlighted in at least three previous audits dating back at least to 2004.

The audit shows that in fiscal year 2012, the Office of Health Care Quality failed to perform inspections of 757 of the 1,364 licensed assisted living facilities in Maryland, or roughly 55 percent of such facilities within the state. Additionally the audit showed that roughly three-fourths of the 197 facilities for the developmentally disabled within the state were not inspected.

The inspections are required by state law and could result in consequences as serious as license revocation if institutions fail them.

at Maryland Reporter.