The Hills Post Acute: Expired Wound Medications Found - CA
The medication was Santyl collagenase ointment, a topical enzyme treatment used to clean and manage wounds. Both tubes were 30-gram containers, each labeled 250 units per gram. One carried a handwritten yellow label marking its expiration as January 31, 2025. The other showed February 8, 2025. Inspectors found them on Treatment Cart 2 on March 18, more than five weeks after the first had expired and more than a month after the second.
The licensed vocational nurse working with that cart, identified in inspection records as LVN 8, was present during the inspection and confirmed both findings. The nurse acknowledged that staff were supposed to follow the expiration date if a label had been applied with one, and that expired medications and supplies should be disposed of. The nurse did not dispute what inspectors found.
Santyl is not a routine lotion. It is a prescription enzymatic debriding agent, meaning it works by breaking down dead tissue in wounds to help them heal. Its effectiveness depends on the active enzyme remaining viable. Once a medication of this type expires, there is no guarantee it continues to work as intended, and using it on an open wound means a resident may receive treatment that does nothing, while the wound continues to deteriorate beneath it.
The yellow labels with initials on each tube indicated someone had handled these containers, noted the expiration dates, and initialed them. That step, which exists precisely to flag medications for removal, did not result in either tube being pulled from the cart. They remained in rotation.
The director of nursing was informed of the findings on March 24, the final day of the inspection, and acknowledged them.
CMS classified the violation at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting few residents. That classification reflects the lowest tier of regulatory concern in terms of documented injury. It does not mean the residents whose wounds were treated with those medications were unaffected. It means inspectors did not find documented evidence of harm at the time of the survey.
What the inspection does document is a gap between a system that appeared to be working and a system that was not. Someone initialed those labels. Someone noted January 31. Someone noted February 8. The cart was used after both dates passed. The tubes were still there when inspectors arrived in mid-March.
The Hills Post Acute is located at 1800 Old Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for The Hills Post Acute from 2025-03-24 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.
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Last verified: November 2, 2026 · Our methodology
THE HILLS POST ACUTE in SANTA ANA, CA was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 24, 2025.
The medication was Santyl collagenase ointment, a topical enzyme treatment used to clean and manage wounds.
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.