Special Focus Facility Initiative: A Guide For Potential Nursing Home Residents

National Elder Abuse Awareness month takes place in June, though residents of nursing homes and their families are affected by neglect and abuse year round.  Nursing homes continue to mistreat the vulnerable and frail members of the community, and the safeguards against these instances of abuse seem insufficient. The Special Focus Facility Initiative is a step in the right direction for elder abuse prevention.

On June 20, 2013, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services updated the Special Focus Facility Initiative, which will give potential and current residents of nursing homes and their families a guideline to follow when they assess the quality of a nursing home.

The CMS conducts annual surveys to ensure the nursing home facilities are abiding by the standards of care it sets out for the facilities in order to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. Any deficiencies it finds are cited and recorded. After the surveys are completed, the violations are required to be address and corrected within a specified time frame.  Repeated violations and complaints filed by residents will prompt intervention and further inspection of these homes.  If the efforts are not taken by the nursing home administrators and staff to correct substandard quality of care, the CMS may remove these homes from Medicare and Medicaid eligibility.

The SFF takes the results from these surveys and categorizes the nursing homes based on these results.  It lays out three categories in which the nursing homes will fall:

A – Improvement & Graduation

B – Termination from Medicare

C – Extension of Time

Within these categories are five subcategories of the nursing homes:

Table A – New Additions

Table B – Not Improved

Table C – Improving

Table D – Recently Graduated

Table E – No Longer in Medicare and Medicaid

The status of each nursing home within these categories and subcategories may serve as a guideline for current and potential residents and their families.  Special Focus Facility initiative was implemented to address the growing problem of nursing homes continually performing below acceptable standards.  The CMS advises those to interpret the information cautiously and supplement it with information from your local ombudsman’s office, the State survey agency, or other sources.¹

1.  http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/CertificationandComplianc/Downloads/SFFList.pdf