The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created a program to identify and address the conditions of nursing homes around the country with poor conditions, called the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program. Over 400 nursing homes were considered for increased inspections and potential candidates for the SFF program, but approximately 80 were actually selected. Despite the non-selected homes still-inadequate conditions, the full list of facilities was only recently revealed to the public.
Pennsylvania Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey released the list of SFF-candidate nursing homes, which included 20 facilities in Pennsylvania and six facilities in West Virginia. Four of the listed Pennsylvania homes were selected for the SFF program: The Gardens at West Shore, Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, The Grove at North Huntingdon, and Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Of the six nursing homes in West Virginia, one (Trinity Health Care of Logan) was chosen as a subject of the program.
The Special Focus Facility candidate nursing homes in Pennsylvania that were revealed in the report are:
- Willow Terrace (PA)
- The Grove at Latrobe (PA)
- Corner View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (PA)
- Conner-Williams Nursing Home (PA)
- Shippensburg Health Care Center (PA)
- Cheltenham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (PA)
- Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (PA)
- Mountain View Care and Rehabilitation Center (PA)
- Meadow View Nursing Center (PA)
- Chestnut Hill Lodge Health and Rehab Center (PA)
- The Gardens at Blue Ridge (PA)
- Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (PA)
- The Gardens at Stroud (PA)
- Cathedral Village (PA)
- Garden Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (PA)
- William Penn Care Center (PA)
The West Virginia SFF candidates are:
- Parkersburg Center (WV)
- Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center (WV)
- Dunbar Center (WV)
- Heritage Center (WV)
- Morgantown Health and Rehabilitation Center (WV)
The current list of candidates is extensive, but is a reduction of the approximately 835 candidates that were identified before federal budget cuts in 2014 reduced the scope of the program. In 2010, there were 167 nursing homes actively in the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program. The reduction in facilities that were labeled as in need in the most recent reports does not signify an improvement in the conditions of those homes — following budget cuts, CMS does not have the resources to address the state of as many poorly-maintained facilities as it was able to previously.
Nursing homes with systemic issues of abuse, neglect, cleanliness, safety, and other measures of quality make up about 3% of the over 15,700 facilities in the United States, reports The Morning Call. The federal government’s transparency on the conditions of nursing homes, and action in response to inadequacies, leaves the public with much to be desired. Before Senators Casey and Toomey published the report on SFF candidates, only information on selected facilities was available. Still, government resources on low-quality nursing homes are lacking in further details of facilities’ conditions, foregoing even a star-rating system to alert families of the level of deficiency that exists in problem care centers.
The Senate report exposed a deeply-ingrained issue that exists in America’s nursing homes. Over a million people in the U.S. live in elderly care facilities, and many are subjected to poor conditions, neglect, and abuse. The negligence of nursing home staff and regulatory agencies continually endangers older people in need.
At Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C., we advocate for victims of nursing home abuse and neglect throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Contact us if you have a case.
Call (844) 383-0565 or use our contact formto schedule a free consultation with our attorneys. We are available 24/7 via phone.