Nearly 400 nursing homes nationwide have a "persistent record of poor care" previously undisclosed to the public, according to a Senate report released June 3.
Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., issued the report, which found many nursing homes with care quality issues lack additional oversight from CMS. Of the more than 15,700 nursing homes nationwide, 88 participate in CMS' Special Focus Facility program. The program offers increased oversight for facilities that "consistently underperform" on inspections or "substantially fail" to meet federal care standards. The hospitals that participate in the program are made public.
About 400 other nursing homes have similar care quality issues that make them eligible for the SFF program, but they are not selected to participate due to CMS' limited resources, according to the report. These nursing homes are not disclosed to the public.
"When a family makes the hard decision to seek nursing home services for a loved one, they deserve to know if a facility under consideration suffers from systemic shortcomings," Mr. Toomey said in a press release.
CMS provided the senators with a list of these facilities, which they released June 3 to improve transparency surrounding nursing home care quality.
To view the full list, click here.