Autumn Lake Healthcare at Southgate: Infection Control Failures - NJ
The violations fell under the federal infection control tag, F0880, and inspectors rated the level of harm as minimal or potential for actual harm, with a few residents affected.
The facility's own infection control coordinator, identified in the report as the IP, told inspectors that Foley catheter drainage bags, which collect urine from patients who cannot urinate on their own, should never be left on the floor. When a bag does touch the floor, the IP said, it should be replaced entirely. Leaving a drainage bag on the floor creates a pathway for bacteria to travel back toward the patient, a basic concern in any care setting.
The Director of Nursing said the same thing, independently. Urine bags belong below the waist, secured to the bed frame or the chair. Off the floor. That's not a complicated standard. It was apparently not being met.
The inspection also surfaced a separate problem with how staff were handling supplies near the treatment cart, the rolling unit nurses use to store and transport wound care materials, medications, and other equipment. The IP told inspectors that dirty items, meaning anything that had been used or potentially contaminated, should never be returned to the treatment cart. The cart should not enter resident rooms at all.
Whether it did, and how often, the report does not say. What it does say is that inspectors found it necessary to ask about the practice, and the IP's answer made clear the standard was not being followed consistently.
For residents with EBP, a designation that indicates a resident carries a pathogen requiring additional precautions, the Director of Nursing told inspectors that staff providing care are expected to wear a gown, gloves, and a mask when necessary. The DON made that statement in a second interview, this one conducted with the Licensed Nursing Home Administrator present. The presence of the administrator at that second interview is noted in the report without explanation.
The facility has an infection control policy on the books, revised in July 2021, that states the home's practices are intended to maintain a safe, sanitary, and comfortable environment and to help prevent and manage the transmission of diseases and infections. That language is standard. The gap between a written policy and what inspectors find when they walk the floor is where these cases live.
Carneys Point is a small township in Salem County, in the southwestern corner of New Jersey. Autumn Lake Healthcare at Southgate is one of several facilities operating under the Autumn Lake brand in the mid-Atlantic region.
The inspection was triggered by a complaint, not a routine survey cycle. That means someone, a resident, a family member, or a staff member, contacted regulators with a concern specific enough to prompt a visit. The report does not identify who filed the complaint or what it alleged.
What inspectors documented when they arrived were drainage bags on floors and questions about whether contaminated equipment was being kept away from the people living there.
A urine bag on a floor is not an abstraction. It is a bag of bodily fluid, sitting on a surface that staff and visitors walk across, in a room where a person sleeps and eats and receives care. The bag is connected, by a tube, to that person's body. When it touches the floor, whatever is on that floor, bacteria included, has a route it did not have before.
The Director of Nursing and the infection control coordinator both knew the correct answer when inspectors asked. The standard was not in dispute. It was the practice.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Autumn Lake Healthcare At Southgate from 2025-10-22 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.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 7, 2026 · Our methodology
AUTUMN LAKE HEALTHCARE AT SOUTHGATE in CARNEYS POINT, NJ was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 22, 2025.
When a bag does touch the floor, the IP said, it should be replaced entirely.
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.