Nursing Facility 609 Reporting Directions

To: Occurrence Reporters

From: Occurrence Section

The occurrence reporting portal has been used to submit nursing facility reports that are required by federal regulations (F609). The following guidance is intended to clarify occurrence and federal reporting for skilled nursing facilities.

When reporting through the occurrence system, it is necessary to check the boxes for each element that has been met. This requirement is not always accurate for federal reports. At this time, there is not a way to fix this issue. Facilities must continue to check the boxes for the elements for both occurrence and federal reports. For federal reports that do not meet occurrence reporting elements, facilities may add a narrative statement to the initial report. An example of a statement is:

"This report is being submitted due to federal regulations and does not meet the occurrence reporting criteria. The elements have been marked as met only to submit the report. The element of [insert element here] has not been met because [insert reason here]."

Police notification is required for all abuse occurrences, as well as any reasonable suspicion of a crime against a resident. All other reports do not mandate police notification. For federal reports that do not fall in either of those categories, the facility does not need to notify the police and may leave that section of the occurrence report blank. Facilities should add a narrative to the initial report that states:

"Police were not notified for this event. This event does not meet occurrence reporting criteria and is not a reasonable suspicion of a crime against a resident because [insert reason here]."

Please note that all reports are reviewed by the Department. The inclusion of these narrative explanations allow occurrence investigators the ability to understand how facility decisions were made. Without a narrative explanation, there may be follow up questions from the Department. The Department makes the final decision about reportability and classification of reports.

For further information:

Please contact Peter Myers (303)-692-2801 or the Occurrence Intake Line (303) 692-2826.