California in part uses risk management principles to determine the amount of civil penalty to levy against a nursing home for a care violation. I would prefer, however, that in addition to the Section 1424 facts listed below, that the facts considered as criteria for determining the amount or increased amount of penalty also specifically include (1) the nursing home’s care policies, procedures and practices in place before the violation, and whether or not the nursing home was following those policies, procedures and practices, and (2) the nursing home’s timely payment of the penalty.

California Health and Safety Code Section 1424 in part provides that citations issued against nursing homes shall be classified according to the nature of the violation and shall indicate the classification on the face of the citation.

(a) In determining the amount of the civil penalty, all relevant facts shall be considered, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) The probability and severity of the risk that the violation presents to the patient’s or resident’s mental and physical condition (i.e., traditional risk management, the likelihood of the occurrence and the possible severity of an injury that could result from the breach or continuing breach).

(2) The patient’s or resident’s medical condition.

(3) The patient’s or resident’s mental condition and his or her history of mental disability or disorder.

(4) The good faith efforts exercised by the facility to prevent the violation from occurring.

(5) The licensee’s history of compliance with regulations (this criteria should get little or no weight – tell this criteria to a severely injured or dead elder or dependent adult and his or her family – the fact that a facility has a history of compliance, or that noncompliance has not been noticed in the past really isn’t relevant to the injured or deceased elder or dependent adult and isn’t a criteria in traditional tort law, so why is it relevant at all for the purpose of citation penalties levied?).

(b) Relevant facts considered by the department in determining the amount of the civil penalty shall be documented by the department on an attachment to the citation and available in the public record.

This requirement shall not preclude the department or a facility from introducing facts not listed on the citation to support or challenge the amount of the civil penalty in any proceeding set forth in section 1428.