Nursing Home Depositions: State Surveys, MDS, OBRA, Policies Manuals

This CLE webinar will discuss handling state surveys and reports, patients' Minimum Data Set (MDS) required assessments, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) and related regulations, and policy and procedures manuals used in nursing home depositions. The panel of nursing home defense counsel will discuss tactics of plaintiff’s counsel attempting to use these materials to establish the standard of care and deviations from that standard including best strategies for defending depositions involving these documents.

Nursing homes are highly regulated through comprehensive federal and state laws and regulations in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Plaintiffs in nursing home neglect and abuse cases often point to these regulations and the reports and records they mandate in an effort to expose and illustrate the applicable safety rules, alleged violations or deviations from those rules, and how those deviations resulted in harm.

Nonetheless, nursing home defendants often argue that applicable rules and regulations deal only with reimbursement conditions and do not establish a standard of care. Similarly, defense counsel often posit that the nursing home's policies and procedures are merely guidelines, not requirements.

Listen as this expert panel of defense nursing home litigators explores how plaintiffs may attempt to use the applicable rules and regulations and best strategies for limiting the damage this can cause.