State Backlogged On Home Care Inspections

NEW LONDON (AP) — Connecticut health officials say the state is behind in inspections of home health care agencies.

The Day of New London reports that as reliance on home care grows, inspections of agencies in Connecticut are backlogged. The state also rarely imposes financial penalties on agencies found with patient-care violations.

A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health says that when inspections turn up problems, agencies are almost never penalized because the state lacks legal authority to impose fines.

The Connecticut Health Department inspects an agency every two or three years. William Gerrish, public health department spokesman, says relicensing has been delayed for the past six months, with 12 of the state’s 98 agencies overdue for inspections,

He says inspections should be on schedule in two months.