Chestertown Nursing and Rehab: 41 Deficiencies Found - MD
The facility failed to conduct required PASARR screenings — a federally mandated process designed to identify residents who have mental disorders or intellectual disabilities before or shortly after admission. The screenings exist because residents with those conditions are entitled to specialized services, and without the screening, no one formally determines whether those services are needed. At Chestertown Nursing and Rehab, inspectors found the process wasn't being completed as required.
Inspectors classified the violation as isolated, meaning it did not affect every resident at the facility. They documented no actual harm. But they also noted the potential for more than minimal harm — the regulatory threshold that separates a paperwork problem from a patient safety concern. A resident with an unidentified mental health condition living in a nursing home, without the services or care adjustments that condition might require, is not simply a missed checkbox.
The PASARR deficiency was one of 41 separate violations cited during the August 13 inspection, which was triggered by a complaint.
Forty-one deficiencies at a single facility in a single inspection is a significant number. The inspection report does not detail the full scope of what those other 40 citations covered, but the volume alone signals a facility where problems were not isolated to one corner of operations or one shift or one department. Inspectors move through a facility methodically. They review records, interview staff, observe care, talk to residents. Forty-one times, they found something wrong enough to cite.
The facility reported that the PASARR screening deficiency was corrected as of October 1, 2025 — nearly seven weeks after the inspection concluded.
Seven weeks is not an unusual correction window in nursing home regulation. Facilities are given time to retrain staff, update policies, audit records, and document that the problem has been addressed. What the correction timeline does not answer is how long the screening failures had been occurring before inspectors arrived. Complaint inspections are triggered by someone — a resident, a family member, a staff member — contacting regulators with a concern. By the time inspectors walk through the door, the conditions that prompted the complaint have often been in place for some time.
The PASARR process — the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review — was established specifically because nursing homes have historically admitted residents with serious mental health needs without adequately planning for those needs. A resident with schizophrenia, or a significant intellectual disability, or a history of psychiatric hospitalizations, requires a different kind of care than a resident recovering from a hip replacement. The screening is supposed to ensure that difference is recognized, documented, and acted on.
When the screening doesn't happen, the resident doesn't disappear. They still live in the facility. They still interact with staff and other residents. They still have whatever condition the screening was supposed to surface. They simply do so without the formal identification that would trigger the services or the care planning they may be entitled to receive.
Chestertown Nursing and Rehab sits in a small county seat on Maryland's Eastern Shore, in a region where long-term care options are limited and families often have few alternatives when a loved one needs nursing home placement. That context doesn't excuse what inspectors found. It does mean that residents and families in that area are largely dependent on this facility performing at a level that protects the people living there.
The inspection report does not identify the residents whose screenings were missed. It does not describe what, if anything, happened to them as a result. The regulatory classification — potential for more than minimal harm, no actual harm documented — reflects what inspectors could confirm, not necessarily the full picture of what those residents experienced.
Forty-one deficiencies. One correction date. The residents living at Chestertown Nursing and Rehab during those seven weeks between the inspection and the reported correction date were still there, in a facility that inspectors had just found out of compliance in more than three dozen ways.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Chestertown Nursing and Rehab from 2025-08-13 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: October 26, 2026 · Our methodology
CHESTERTOWN NURSING AND REHAB in CHESTERTOWN, MD was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 13, 2025.
At Chestertown Nursing and Rehab, inspectors found the process wasn't being completed as required.
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.