Nursing facilities with more than 120 beds must employ a full-time qualified social worker who holds at least a bachelor's degree in social work or a related human services field and has one year of supervised social work experience in a health care setting. Facilities with 120 or fewer beds are not required to employ a social worker under this provision, though social services deficiencies may still be cited under a separate tag regardless of bed count. Surveyors will cite noncompliance if a qualifying social worker is not employed full-time or if the individual in that role does not meet the stated educational and experience requirements.
View official sourceF850 (Rev. 225; Issued: 08-08-24; Effective: 08-08-24; Implementation: 08-08-24) §483.70(o) Social worker. Any facility with more than 120 beds must employ a qualified social worker on a full-time basis. A qualified social worker is: §483.70(o)(1) An individual with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in social work or a bachelor’s degree in a human services field including, but not limited to, sociology, gerontology, special education, rehabilitation counseling, and psychology; and §483.70(o)(2) One year of supervised social work experience in a health care setting working directly with individuals. GUIDANCE §483.70(o) The regulations do not require a Social Worker when a facility has equal to or less than 120 beds. If the facility has more than 120 beds and its full-time social worker does not provide on- site coverage on a full-time basis determine how these services are provided to meet the individual needs of the resident whenever needed. If social services deficiencies are identified refer to §483.40(d), F745, regardless of the number of beds. KEY ELEMENTS OF NONCOMPLIANCE To cite deficient practice at F850, the surveyor’s investigation will generally show that the facility failed to do any one of the following: • A facility with more than 120 beds did not employ a qualified social worker on a full-time basis; or • The individual functioning as the social worker did not meet the qualifications specified in this regulation.