Health and Family Services Cabinet
State Officials, Liberty Working to Ensure Oakwood Residents’ Health, Safety
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) and Liberty Healthcare have taken additional steps to ensure safe conditions at the Communities at Oakwood following the findings of an investigation of an incident resulting in injury to an Oakwood resident.
The Communities at Oakwood is a state-operated facility in Somerset for people with mental retardation operated by the Department for Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services (MH/MR) within CHFS. The Office of the Inspector General delivered a Type A citation to the facility late Friday.
“The management and staff at Oakwood are committed to continuing their work to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents at Oakwood,” said William D. Hacker, M.D., acting CHFS undersecretary for health. “Despite the noted progress, Oakwood still faces substantial challenges in the days and weeks ahead to make the improvements that both the Cabinet and the federal government feel are necessary to improve the quality of life for the residents.”
The incident cited involved a lack of adequate supervision during bathing that resulted in a resident injuring another resident. Initially, Oakwood staff failed to report the incident because it was improperly classified based on the severity of the injury. Liberty Healthcare is working to ensure that the process of reviewing incidents is thorough and that appropriate reporting occurs.
Liberty Healthcare manages day-to-day operation of the facility, with oversight from key CHFS officials.
Currently, CHFS is appealing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) termination of Medicaid funding to Oakwood. Federal funding to the facility is continuing during the appeal. This is the 13th Type A citation received by Oakwood in the previous year.
Oakwood serves 262 people with mental retardation and is operated by MH/MR within CHFS.