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State won’t release inspection records for home health agency

on Tue, 08/12/2025 - 18:17   by Clark Kauffman

Iowa Capital Dispatch
August 11, 2025

A state agency that denied having inspection records for a Cedar Rapids home health agency now admits it has the records but considers them confidential.

The records are related to Compassion North America, a home health agency whose practices came under scrutiny earlier this year after the Iowa Board of Nursing presented evidence of falsified records, billing for services that were never delivered, and the employment of an unlicensed nurse to provide patient care.

On July 9, the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing for a copy of a private accreditation agency’s inspection report for Compassion North America.

Despite ‘fraudulent practices’ finding, no state probe of home health agency

on Sat, 07/12/2025 - 22:13   by Clark Kauffman

Iowa Capital Dispatch
July 11, 2025

State regulators say they have never inspected and are not investigating a home health agency alleged to have falsified records, billed for services never delivered and used an unlicensed nurse.

State records show that Compassion North America, a home health provider based in Cedar Rapids, was incorporated in 2017 with M’balu Madlene Kebbie, a registered nurse, as its director, but was not licensed by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing until September 2024.

When asked about that, department spokeswoman Diane McCool said it’s possible the company was not providing any medical services in Iowa prior to being licensed last summer.

However, records from the Iowa Board of Nursing, which is administered by DIAL, and sworn testimony from a state health investigator at a hearing overseen by DIAL, indicate the company has been providing medical care for clients at least since June 2022.

Iowa Republicans and Democrats offer competing solutions to provide nursing home oversight

on Wed, 02/14/2024 - 23:03   by Clark Kauffman

Iowa Capital Dispatch

Democratic state lawmakers are pushing legislation to increase state oversight of nursing homes while Republican legislators are advancing a bill that could reduce such oversight.

Both initiatives are being advanced now due to a spate of deaths and serious injuries tied to regulatory violations in Iowa nursing homes. Republican lawmakers say the situation calls for a more “collaborative” approach to enforcement, while Democrats argue the state isn’t being tough enough on violators.

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Health and Human Services reviewed a GOP-backed bill, House Study Bill 691, that would revise the state law that requires the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing to make a preliminary review of a nursing home complaint and, unless DIAL concludes the complaint is intended to harass a facility, make an on-site inspection.

The bill would add new exceptions to the requirement for on-site inspections, allowing DIAL to forgo an on-site visit if the agency concludes the complaint involves an issue that was already the subject of a complaint or a self-report from the facility itself within the previous 90 days. So, for example, if a facility self-reported an incident tied to insufficient staffing or a failure to monitor residents, it might not face another on-site inspection if a resident complained of the same issue two months later.

Lawmakers discuss reducing inspections of hotels, asbestos removal – the move led by Bettendorf's Republican State Senator Scott Webster

on Thu, 01/25/2024 - 03:59   by Clark Kauffman

by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
January 23, 2024

An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced legislation Tuesday to cut back on the law’s requirement for hotel inspections and asbestos-related inspections at construction sites.

The three members of the Senate State Government Subcommittee expressed reservations with various elements of the bill, Senate Study Bill 3064, but the two Republican members said they intended to forward it to the full committee on the theory that there will be more discussion about the bill’s merits and any potential drawbacks.

Currently, state law requires that the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing inspect hotels and motels at least once every two years. However, the department has not complied with that law for several years and has instead inspected hotels largely on a complaint-only basis with some inspections being performed on a prioritized, risk-based assessment.

The department now hopes to have the law changed so that it essentially legalizes DIAL’s current practice.

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