(Radio Iowa) – A state administrator says a report from the state auditor on the frequency of nursing home inspections is inaccurate and incomplete. State Auditor Rob Sand released an analysis Monday showing nursing home inspections were occurring, on average, every 17 months — and that’s about four months beyond the federal standard.

Larry Johnson — director of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing — says the federal data the state auditor relied upon did not provide a snapshot of all the inspections that had been conducted before June 1st — because there’s a lag time in completing the paperwork. “Had he contacted us both before, during and after his audit, we would have provided accurate information,” Johnson says.

Johnson says data for the current federal fiscal year shows the statewide average time between Iowa nursing home inspections is now under 13 months. “So we are exceeding what is expected of us,” Johnson says. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays 86 percent of the salaries for state nursing home inspectors. Johnson decided to use some of that funding to pay overtime to state inspectors, speeding up the annual reviews of Iowa nursing homes.

“We only have 13 nursing homes left to do and we have two weeks left to do it,” Johnson says. That’s because the federal fiscal year ends September 30th.