The Long-Term Care Community Coalition provided me with an updated list of nursing homes, including NY nursing homes, that have been identified as Special Focus Facilities (SFFs) by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The Special Focus Facility program identifies facilities that have exhibited 1) a pattern of quality care problems, 2) more serious problems (harm or injury to residents) in comparison with other nursing homes, and/or 3) a larger quantity of deficiencies in comparison with other nursing homes. The SFF program then assists these facilities in trying to remedy their existing problems. If the facility fails to correct the problems, Medicare/Medicaid stop reimbursing them.
The SFF program divides the facilities into five categories:
1) Facilities recently added to SFF;
2) Facilities that have “improved” after being placed on the list;
3) Facilties that have “graduated” from the program (faciltiies graduate if they achieve “sustained significant improvement” over a 12 month period);
4) Facilities that have NOT improved despite participation in the program; and 5) Facilties terminated (no longer receiving Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements – as a practical matter, most of the facilties in this category have closed).
Mercy of Northern New York in Watertown, NY was recently named a Special Focus Facility, and two New York nursing homes, Central Park Rehabilitation & Nursing and Northwoods Rehabilitation at Hilltop, were found NOT to have improved after being identified as a problem facility.
Attorneys at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC represent nursing home residents that have been neglected or abused. Nursing Home Neglect can include falls, pressure sores (Bedsores, decubiti), malnutrition and dehydration, choking incdents and/or weight loss.
