Autumn Lake Healthcare at Catonsville: Mouse Activity - MD
During an August 2025 inspection, surveyors discovered mouse droppings in the facility's conference room. The administrator was notified at noon. She acknowledged what the inspectors found and said the contracted pest control company came every week.
The pest control records told a longer story.
Inspectors reviewed service reports from All State Pest Management, the company Autumn Lake had hired to keep the building clear. Visit after visit, the technician's notes described the same problem spreading to more of the building. On one visit, the technician found a deceased mouse under the refrigerator in the activity room. On another, the company replenished mouse bait stations in an area called the Country Inn and noted prior mice activity there. On a later visit, the technician logged mice activity reported in a resident's room, then inspected and treated that room directly.
The kitchen and dishwasher room appeared in multiple service reports. So did all four nurses' stations. So did the rehab gym and the nourishment rooms. The dining room. The Country Inn office. The reports spanned months of weekly visits, each one documenting what the technician found and treated, each one cataloguing a facility where mice had established a persistent presence across nearly every part of the building where residents ate, recovered, and slept.
By 6:35 the following morning, inspectors were back. They found more mouse droppings in the conference room, this time behind stacked boxes of copy paper. The administrator was notified again, along with the Regional Clinical Nurse. Both acknowledged what the surveyors had found.
At 7:10 that morning, inspectors sat down with the administrator and laid out what the records showed: a complaint from a resident's family, and months of pest control reports documenting mice, evidence of mice activity, and treatment of a resident's room for active infestation. The administrator acknowledged the concerns.
When inspectors left the facility, no additional information had been provided about how Autumn Lake intended to fix the problem.
The inspection was triggered by a complaint, not a routine survey. CMS classified the harm level as minimal, with some residents affected. That classification reflects the agency's assessment of what inspectors could document, not a judgment that mice in a nursing home kitchen or a resident's bedroom carry no risk. Rodent droppings can carry pathogens. Residents in skilled nursing facilities are, by definition, medically vulnerable. The pest control company had been finding evidence of the problem for months and continued to find it.
What the records do not show is any point at which the facility escalated its response, brought in additional contractors, or took structural steps beyond the weekly service visits that were already failing to resolve the infestation. The administrator's response to inspectors each time was acknowledgment. The droppings were still there.
A family noticed something wrong and made a call. The inspection that followed found mouse droppings on two separate mornings, pest control logs documenting active infestation in a resident's room, and a facility that, at the time surveyors walked out the door, had not explained what it planned to do differently.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Autumn Lake Healthcare At Catonsville from 2025-08-18 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
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 22, 2026 · Our methodology
AUTUMN LAKE HEALTHCARE AT CATONSVILLE in CATONSVILLE, MD was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 18, 2025.
During an August 2025 inspection, surveyors discovered mouse droppings in the facility's conference room.
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.