CMS Will Publicly Post All Names of Most Concerning Care Facilities
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is reacting to the highly publicized release of U.S. Senators Bob Casey’s (D-PA) and Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) report titled, Families’ and Residents’ Rights to Know: Uncovering Poor Care in America’s Nursing Homes, by announcing it will soon disclose all of the names of care facility candidates in the agency’s Special Focus Facility (SFF) program. SFFs have a “persistent record of poor care” and were previously not available for the public to review. Some lawmakers and resident advocates even called the list a “scary secret” kept from the public to protect nursing home owners and their reputations.
The Pennsylvania lawmakers list included only 400+ facilities, 22 of which are located throughout Illinois, but there are almost 3,000 nursing homes that have a one-star rating on their health inspections, the worst ranking possible. With only 88 SFF program slots funded that likely leaves so many additional poor performing candidates for the program to publicly acknowledge.
Read the Official Statement by CMS Chief Medical Officer
The announcement came through a statement by Dr. Kate Goodrich, Director, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and CMS Chief Medical Officer, on June 5, 2019.
“CMS offers Americans a comprehensive, consumer-friendly quality hub, called Nursing Home Compare, which provides quality of care information for every nursing home that participates in Medicare and Medicaid. Nursing Home Compare includes an easy to understand overall star rating based on three factors: health inspections, staffing levels, and quality measures. The site also includes the results of recent health inspections. In addition to this information, CMS will soon be posting a list of candidates for the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program. CMS urges all Americans to consult their physician, family, and Nursing Home Compare before choosing a nursing home for their loved ones.”
But the public may be waiting a bit longer for the full SFF candidate lists to be publicly posted on a CMS website. In the meantime, we encourage family members to:
The nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Levin & Perconti are pleased to know CMS will now add the names of the likely hundreds of underperforming nursing homes in Illinois that require additional oversight regardless if officially involved in the SFF program or not. Protecting nursing homes that are violating the rights of the same individuals they must care for will not curb the elder abuse and nursing home neglect epidemic our country is facing. It will only make it worse.
Contact Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys in Illinois
If you suspect any injury resulting from neglect or abuse at your loved one’s Illinois nursing home, contact the attorneys of Levin & Perconti now at 1-877-374-1417 or by completing our online case evaluation form for a free consultation.
Also read: List of 22 Seriously Under-Performing Nursing Homes in Illinois Released Publicly for First Time