Around 1.5 million people live in one of the 15,700 nursing home facilities in the United States. Nursing homes are meant to be a safe place for elderly residents to live comfortably. Before placing loved ones in a nursing home, families research various facilities to learn whether or not this a particular nursing home is the right place for them. Oftentimes, families will find no information about the health and safety violations of a nursing home because that information has been hidden from the public.
Pennsylvania Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey have released a previously undisclosed list of nearly 400 nursing home facilities that have a “persistent record of poor care.” The federal government has withheld information about negligent nursing homes for years, despite inspectors having continuously found facilities with unsafe and unhealthy living conditions.
Only a Few Nursing Homes Were Shared with the Public
These 400 nursing homes were not included in a shorter list of facilities that are closely monitored by the government and have warning labels. The list of nursing homes was prepared by the Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and according to the two Senators, all of them are candidates for the Special Focus Facilities (SFF) program. This is a program for properties that have had consistent violations of health and safety regulations. Special Focus Facilities are given double the number of inspections by federal officials.
The secrecy displayed by officials weakens the trust and transparency that families need when looking for a nursing home to care for their loved ones. Families need access to all of the information available about a nursing home, including their health and safety violations, before placing loved ones into their care.
In their report, Senators Casey and Toomey stated, “We’ve got to make sure any family member or any potential resident of a nursing home can get this information, not only ahead of time but on an ongoing basis.”
Limited Resources
Medicare and Medicaid Services publicly discloses the names of approximately 80 nursing homes that get specialized examinations to ensure they correct any quality issues. These 80 nursing homes are placed in the SFF program and the homes in this program that do not improve may be cut off by Medicare and Medicaid. According to Senator Casey, the nursing homes on the previously undisclosed list all qualify for the SFF program but CMS is unable to select them because of limited funds.
Seema Verma, a CMS Administrator, found that the federal budget was the main factor for their limited resources. Verma explained to Senator Casey that the total number of slots available in the SFF program is solely based on the availability of federal funds. In 2010, there were 835 nursing homes that needed to be in the SFF program, but only 167 spaces were available. The number of open spaces is now down to 88 and there are 440 nursing homes. The decrease in spaces in the SFF program was a result of federal budget cuts in 2014, according to Verma.
Which Nursing Homes Are SFF?
Families currently searching for nursing homes can be alerted to facilities in the Special Focus Facilities program by a small yellow triangle icon in the facility’s listing when using the government’s Nursing Home Compare website. The website also provides details on penalties, inspection reports, staffing, quality of resident care, and other general information when comparing nursing homes.
CMS expressed in a statement that ratings on the Nursing Home Compare website are the best option for consumer decision-making. However, many consumers say that these ratings do not provide enough information and that more transparency is needed. Despite being flagged as violators of safety and health regulations, almost half of SFF nursing homes have staffing or quality ratings of three stars or more and nine of them have perfect scores. This shows how inaccurate some of the online ratings for these facilities are.
Negligence Discovered In Report
The report from Senators Casey and Toomey identified multiple facilities that were on the SFF list. Some details that were found include:
- Heritage Healthcare Residence in Quitman, TX – This nursing home failed to prevent their septic system from backing up. As a result, black substances began to come out from the drains and into the kitchen and food-preparation areas.
- Avante in Ormond Beach, FL – Inspectors discovered that this nursing home’s staff was risking infection by not properly cleaning and disinfecting blood sugar measuring instruments after each use with different patients.
List of Nursing Homes
Below are nursing home facilities included in the report from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia as of June 2019. If you have experienced any type of abuse or injury as a result of negligence or improper care, contact KBA Attorneys to file a nursing home lawsuit.
Florida
- Avante at Orlando Inc.
- Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Extended Care
- Huntington Place
- North Rehabilitation Center
- St. Andrews Bay Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation
- Ocean View Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, LLC
- Oak Haven Rehab and Nursing Center
- Bristol at Tampa Rehab and Nursing Center, LLC
- Avante at Ormond Beach, Inc.
- Hawthorne Health and Rehab of Sarasota
- Excel Care Center
- Palm Garden of Vero Beach
- Consulate Health Care of Lake Parker
- Brighton Gardens of Tampa
- Fort Pierce Health Care
- Consulate Health Care of Melbourne
- Beneva Lakes Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
Georgia
- East Lake Arbor
- Pleasant View Nursing Center
- Westminster Commons
- Brentwood Health and Rehabilitation
- Pruitt Health – Blue Ridge
- Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation Center
- Lagrange Health and Rehab
- Windermere Health and Rehabilitation Center
- Clinch Healthcare Center
- Pinehill Nursing Center
Maryland
- Autumn Lake Healthcare at Pikesville
- Patapsco Valley Center
- Caton Manor
- Cadia Healthcare – Wheaton
- Cadia Healthcare – Springbrook
Massachusetts
- Oxford Rehabilitation & Health Care Center, The
- Worcester Rehabilitation & Health Care Center
- Crawford Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
- Garden Place Healthcare
- Care One at Peabody
- Marlborough Hills Rehabilitation & Health Care Ctr.
- Northwood Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center
- Parsons Hill Rehabilitation & Health Care Center
- Jewish Nursing Home of Western Mass
- Worcester Health Center
- Sweet Brook of Williamson Rehabilitation & N Ctr.
New Jersey
- Wanaque Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, The
- Millville Center
- Our Lady’s Center for Rehabilitation & HC
- CareOne at Evesham
- Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
- Sterling Manor
- Waterview Center
- Summit Ridge Center
- Roosevelt Care Center at Old Bridge
- New Groove Manor
- Riverfront Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center
Pennsylvania
- Willow Terrace
- Grove at Latrobe, The
- Corner View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
- Conner-Willaims Nursing Home
- Shippensburg Health Care Center
- Cheltenham Nursing and Rehab C
- Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center
- Mountain View Care and Rehabilitation Center
- Meadow View Nursing Center
- Chestnut Hill Lodge Health and Rehab CTR
- Gardens at Blue Ridge, The
- Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
- Gardens at Stroud, The
- Cathedral Village
- Garden Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
- William Penn Care Center
- Gardens at West Shore, The
- Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center
- Grove at North Huntingdon, The
- Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Virginia
- Ashland Nursing and Rehabilitation
- Battlefield Park Healthcare Center
- Woodmont Center
- Augusta Nursing & Rehab Center
- Envoy of Westover Hills
Contact a Nursing Home Lawyer
The personal injury lawyers at KBA Attorneys have years of combined experience in handling nursing home abuse lawsuits of all types, such as:
These types of abuse and injuries in nursing homes often occur because information about the unsanitary and unsafe practices of facilities are hidden. Hopefully, Senators Casey and Toomey’s report can help bring more awareness to the issue of negligent nursing homes.
Contact our team today to learn about taking legal action against these negligent nursing homes.
References
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. “Senate report reveals nearly 400 troubled nursing homes”, The Associated Press, https://www.apnews.com/f1f93e5f11634ba994dfd21bbc32e73b. Accessed June 28, 2019.