Galion Meadows: Dialysis Records Missing 5 Months - OH
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 27, was admitted in January 2025 carrying a list of diagnoses that would demand close coordination between any nursing home and an outside treatment center: type two diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage renal failure, chronic kidney disease, vascular dementia, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. The resident was cognitively intact, according to a quarterly assessment. The care plan called for staff to coordinate with the dialysis center.
The coordination, on paper at least, was supposed to run in both directions. Before each dialysis trip, a nurse at Galion Meadows was to fill out a communication form recording the resident's vital signs, weight, glucose level, pain medications, and any changes in condition since the last treatment. The dialysis center would send the form back with the resident, filled in with post-dialysis weight, vital signs, how long the treatment ran, how many kilograms of fluid were removed, what medications were given, and any instructions for the nursing home going forward.
It is a straightforward information loop. It did not function.
When federal inspectors reviewed the medical record in May 2026, they found no dialysis communication forms from January 1 through May 26, a span of nearly five months covering well over three dozen dialysis sessions.
A licensed practical nurse told inspectors that the night shift prepared a packet, including the communication form, before each transport. The form went with the resident and came back afterward, she said, and was placed in a file. When she checked the electronic medical record herself, she confirmed: nothing had been scanned in since January 1.
The Director of Nursing told inspectors on May 19 that the forms should be in a binder or folder at the nurses' station. She could not find them. She came back the following morning with a different explanation: the forms traveled with the resident via the transport driver and returned the same way. She still could not find any communication sheets for Resident 27. The binder they were supposed to be kept in was also gone. What she did produce were two reports from the dialysis center, dated May 15 and May 18, and a blank copy of the form itself.
Inspectors returned on May 26, the final day of the survey. The Director of Nursing confirmed she had still not located the binder.
The facility's own hemodialysis policy, last updated in September 2021, required staff to coordinate with the dialysis center. It said nothing about how communication forms were to be used, stored, or tracked.
What the missing records meant in practice is not difficult to reconstruct. Dialysis for a patient with end-stage renal failure is not a routine errand. Fluid removal, blood pressure shifts, and changes in condition during treatment carry real consequences for someone also managing diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and vascular dementia. The communication forms existed precisely because neither the nursing home nor the dialysis center could manage that patient safely without knowing what the other had observed. For five months, that exchange either didn't happen, or it happened and the records were lost, and by the time inspectors asked, nobody could say which.
Resident 27, cognitively intact and dependent on a machine to do what their kidneys no longer could, made that trip three times a week throughout the winter and into the spring. Whether anyone at Galion Meadows knew what happened during those treatments, or what the dialysis center needed them to know afterward, remained an open question when inspectors closed their notebooks and left.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Galion Meadows Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation from 2026-05-26 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: August 17, 2026 · Our methodology
Galion Meadows Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in GALION, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on May 26, 2026.
The resident was cognitively intact, according to a quarterly assessment.
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.