In performing nursing home administrator functions, a licensee is under the legal duty to possess and to apply the knowledge, skill, and care that is ordinarily possessed and exercised by other licensed nursing home administrators and required by the generally accepted standards of the profession. The failure to possess or to apply to a substantial degree such knowledge, skill, and care constitutes gross incompetence.

1. A. Charges of gross incompetence may be based upon a single act of incompetence or upon a course of conduct or series of acts or omissions which extend over a period of time and which, taken as a whole, demonstrate incompetence. It shall not be necessary to show that actual harm resulted from the act or omission or series of acts or omissions so long as the conduct is of such a character that harm could have resulted to the resident or to the public from the act or omission or series of acts or omissions.

2. B. The following shall be deemed prima facie examples of activities which demonstrate that a licensee is unfit or incompetent to serve as a nursing home administrator by reason of negligence, habits, or other causes. The Board shall not be limited to this list in determining whether an act or acts constitute gross incompetence:

   1. (1) Willfully acting in a manner inconsistent with the care for the welfare and the health and safety of the residents of the nursing facility in which he is the administrator, administrator/owner, administrator/manager, or administrator/corporate officer;
   2. (2) Failure to make good faith attempts using administrative management methods, to assure that the nursing home in which he/she is the administrator, administrator/ owner, administrator/manager, or administrator/corporate officer conforms with the provisions of pertinent statutes, codes, rules and regulations of the state licensing authority having jurisdiction over the operation and licensing of nursing homes;
   3. (3) Failure to be responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and managing the operation of a nursing home in such a manner to ensure the safety, health, and welfare of the residents in the facility under the licensee administration;
   4. (4) Physical inability to serve as a nursing home administrator as evidenced by the statement of two licensed physicians; or

   5. (5) Willfully permitting unauthorized disclosure of information relating to a resident in a nursing home under the licensees administration.

      [2/24/1988; 10/31/1995; 16.13.18.9 NMAC - Rn, 16 NMAC 13.18.9, 1/25/2001; A, 2/26/2022]

      HISTORY of 16.13.18 NMAC:

      Pre-NMAC History:

      Material in the part was derived from that previously filed with the commission of public records - state records center and archives:

      NHA Manual #88-1, Administrative Rules and Regulations of the New Mexico Board of Nursing Home Administrators, filed 01-25-88.

      History of Repealed Material: [RESERVED]

      Other History:

      16 NMAC 13.18, Grounds for Disciplinary Action, filed 10/13/1995 replaced that relevant portion of NHA Manual #88-1, filed 1/25/1988.

      16 NMAC 13.18, Grounds for Disciplinary Action, filed 10/13/1995, renumbered and reformatted to 16.13.18 NMAC, Grounds for Disciplinary Action, effective 1/25/2001.