States having big problems tracking safety issues at assisted living facilities, GAO finds

A federal watchdog has found widespread problems tracking safety and quality such as sexual or physical assault and medication errors at assisted living facilities.

A report by the Government Accountability Office found that 26 states couldn’t report the number of critical safety or quality incidents at an assisted living facility, out of the 47 states and the District of Columbia that pay for assisted living for their Medicaid enrollees. The 22 states that did track the information used different definitions for a critical incident, complicating oversight.