18 Miss. Code. R. 26-4-I
All ombudsman are required to attend, if notified by the Health Department, facility surveys. If short notice is given by the Health Department and the ombudsman cannot attend the survey in time, the ombudsman should ask the Health Department if a phone call would be sufficient or communicate their earliest possible arrival at the survey. Notice can also be given to the State Ombudsman to see if he/she would be able to participate at the survey.
Document every participation at a Facility Surveys at each long-term care facility in WellSky as "Participation in facility surveys" under Program Activities, including the facility name, number of contacts, time spent, travel time and other NORS required fields.
If the Ombudsman participates in more than one part of the survey, the activity is still counted as one instance of survey participation. It should be noted in the Activity Comment section whether the instance was the pre-survey briefing of the surveyors or participation in the exit interviews. Even a call regarding a survey can be counted as one activity.
Any person who reveals the information on survey dates or times to a long-term care facility prior to that survey is subject to adjudication and up to $2,000.00 civil money penalty under §1819(g)(2)(A)(i) and §919(g)(2)(A)(i), and §1128A of the Social Security Act. Any Ombudsman or representative of the Office of the State Long-Term Care Facilities Ombudsman that reveals any information deemed to be confidential may be subject to loss of Ombudsman designation and other disciplinary action.
18 Miss. Code. R. 26-4-I