Deployment of Risk and Safety Solutions (RSS) for Complaint/Facility Reported Incident (FRI) Investigations

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AFL 21-55 From the California Department of Public Health

December 23, 2021

TO: Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)
SUBJECT: Deployment of Risk and Safety Solutions (RSS) for Complaint/Facility Reported Incident (FRI) Investigations

All Facilities Letter (AFL) Summary

  • This AFL announces that beginning January 10, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is deploying the RSS Complaint/FRI Survey Tool for complaint/FRI investigations in phases by district office.
  • Facility-authorized users may access their Statements of Deficiencies and submit their plans of correction (POCs) using the RSS website.

Background

On August 7, 2020, CDPH implement an online application for conducting surveys and investigations. CDPH first deployed RSS for COVID-19 Mitigation Surveys with plans to deploy additional functions in the future. This AFL announces that CDPH will begin using RSS for complaints/FRI investigations in phases based on the deployment schedule below.

The RSS Complaint/FRI Survey Tool will initially only be used in SNFs; however, CDPH will roll out to other healthcare facility types as we build additional functionality into the online system.

Deployment Schedule

CDPH will begin using RSS for complaint/FRIs according to the following schedule:

District Offices/SectionsStart Date
Life Safety Code, State Facilities, Sacramento, San Diego, San Bernardino, and San Francisco01/10/2022
East Bay, Santa Rosa, Bakersfield, Los Angeles State Regional Office (LASRO), LA Region 3, Fresno, and Ventura01/24/2022
LA Region 1, Orange, Chico, LA Region 2, San Jose, and Riverside02/07/2022

Facility Enrollment

If CDPH processes a complaint/FRI via RSS and the facility is not already enrolled in RSS, CDPH will send an email invitation to the facility’s point(s)-of-contact stating, “CDPH has invited you to create an account.” The facility’s point(s)-of-contact will need to follow the instructions in the email to create an account.

If someone else at the facility needs to have access to RSS, please contact your local district office to have an email invitation sent to them.

Statement of Deficiencies and POC

Facility-authorized users may access their Statements of Deficiencies and submit their POCs and/or signed Statement of Deficiencies using the RSS website.

RSS Resources

For instructions on how to create an account, locate an investigation/survey in RSS, and submit a POC and signed Statement of Deficiencies, please refer to the following:

If you have any questions about this AFL, please contact your local district office.

Sincerely,

Original signed by Cassie Dunham

Cassie Dunham

Acting Deputy Director