Rocky Top Care Center: Meal Delays Found in Inspection - TN
That was one of the shorter waits observed during a federal inspection at Rocky Top Care Center on August 12, 2024.
Advertisement
Losing sleep over a loved one's care?
The Derila Ergo memory foam pillow supports your neck in any sleep position. 60-day return policy.
See the Derila PillowInspectors documented four residents who received their lunch meals significantly later than others seated in the same dining room. Resident #34 sat at a table with Resident #55. Resident #55 was served at 1:13 PM. Resident #34 waited until 1:25 PM, 12 minutes after her tablemate had already started eating.
Resident #10 had it worse. Seated at a table with three other residents, he watched Residents #8, #21, and #82 receive their meals at 1:17 PM. His tray did not arrive until 1:34 PM. The reason took another few minutes to become clear.
At 1:33 PM, the Activity Director walked into the dining room carrying Resident #10's lunch tray. She told the inspector that the meal had been sitting on the resident's bedside table in his room. She said she did not know who had left it there. The resident had been in the dining room the entire time, waiting.
Resident #33 sat alone at a table and received his meal at 1:29 PM, 29 minutes after the dining service had begun.
The Regional President, whose name was redacted in the inspection report, was interviewed at 1:50 PM that same day. She confirmed that the standard procedure was to serve residents one table at a time, and she confirmed that the residents had not been served timely.
The inspection classified the violations under a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with some residents affected. The finding was documented as part of a health inspection completed August 22, 2024.
What the record shows is straightforward: a man in a wheelchair asked for his food and waited. A man sat at a table with three other people and watched them eat for 17 minutes. Someone carried a lunch tray to a room where no one was sitting, left it on a bedside table, and walked away. The resident that tray belonged to was in the dining room the whole time.
The Activity Director said she was unsure who had left the meal in the room. No one, based on the inspection report, could say.
Rocky Top Care Center is located at 204 Industrial Park Road in Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Rocky Top Care Center from 2024-08-22 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Corrections: We strive for accuracy in everything we publish. If you believe any fact in this article is incorrect, please contact us with details, and we will review and correct it promptly.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: November 14, 2026 · Our methodology
ROCKY TOP CARE CENTER in ROCKY TOP, TN was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 22, 2024.
That was one of the shorter waits observed during a federal inspection at Rocky Top Care Center on August 12, 2024.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.