River Bend Health: Financial Exploitation Violations - NC
The nurse, identified in inspection records only as Nurse #2, was an agency worker who had been filling shifts at the facility since June 2025. On the night of November 14, she signed the narcotic waste log certifying that another agency nurse, Nurse #1, had properly disposed of oxycodone pulled from the supplies of two residents. She had not watched it happen.
Nurse #1 had signed out two oxycodone 10 mg tablets from each resident's supply that night, one at 7:30 PM and a second later in the evening. For one resident, the second pull came at 11:30 PM. For the other, at 10:30 PM. Both residents had valid prescriptions for the medication. Neither tablet was recorded as administered on the medication administration records. The time Nurse #2 signed as witness was illegible on both entries.
Nurse #1 worked exactly one shift at the facility, a 12-hour stretch from 7:00 PM on November 14 until 7:00 AM on November 15. She has not been back.
The problem surfaced three days later. On the morning of November 17, Nurse #3 went to the Director of Nursing with a concern: as-needed oxycodone was being signed out for a resident who did not typically ask for pain medication. When the Director of Nursing pulled the narcotic log, she saw Nurse #2's signature on the waste entries for both residents.
The Director of Nursing called Nurse #2. In an email sent to the Director of Nursing that same evening at 10:30 PM, Nurse #2 confirmed what she had done. She wrote that she had signed the narcotic sheets as a witness to the disposal at Nurse #1's request, without observing the medication disposal.
The facility reported the allegation to the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation at 2:02 PM on November 17 and to local law enforcement at 2:30 PM the same day. Both Nurse #1 and Nurse #2 were blocked from working at the facility as of that date.
By the time inspectors arrived in January, neither nurse could be reached. Attempts to interview both were unsuccessful.
The administrator told inspectors that nurses visually witnessing narcotic waste before signing the log was standard practice at the facility. She said she did not know why Nurse #2 had not followed it.
What the inspection record does not answer is what happened to the oxycodone. The tablets were not given to the residents, according to the medication records. They were not documented as wasted in any way that could be verified. The nurse who pulled them worked one shift and left. The nurse who signed off on their destruction admitted she was not in the room.
Inspectors cited the facility for failing to maintain effective systems for accurate narcotic reconciliation. The deficiency was tagged at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting a small number of residents.
The two residents at the center of the finding had both been prescribed oxycodone for pain, one three times daily, the other every three hours as needed. Their medications were gone. Their charts showed they had not received them. And the one person whose signature was supposed to confirm the drugs had been safely discarded told her supervisor, in writing, that she had simply signed what she was asked to sign.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for River Bend Health and Rehabilitation from 2026-01-30 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: August 5, 2026 · Our methodology
River Bend Health and Rehabilitation in Asheville, NC was cited for violations during a health inspection on January 30, 2026.
The nurse, identified in inspection records only as Nurse #2, was an agency worker who had been filling shifts at the facility since June 2025.
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.