CMS TAKES NEXT STEP TO IMPROVE QUALITY IN NATION'S NURSING HOMES

LATEST IN A SERIES OF ACTIONS TO EXPAND INFORMATION

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today built upon historic action it took last November by making public more names of underperforming nursing homes across the country. On November 29, 2007, the agency began publishing the names of Special Focus Facility (SFF) nursing homes that had failed to improve significantly after being given the opportunity to do so.

Once a facility is selected as an SFF, state survey agencies are responsible for conducting twice the number of standard surveys and will apply progressive enforcement until the nursing home either (a) significantly improves and is no longer identified as an SFF, (b) is granted additional time due to promising developments, or (c) is terminated from Medicare and/or Medicaid.

“This is the latest in a series of steps we will be taking to improve quality and oversight in nursing homes,” said Kerry Weems, CMS acting administrator. “We are issuing more information on special focus facilities to better equip beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to make informed decisions and stimulate robust improvements in nursing homes having not improved their quality of care.”

Between November and February, CMS worked with states to assure that the SFF list (see link provided) is current and provides consumers with the information needed to make a distinction between nursing homes that are improving and those that are not.

Today’s release includes a broader list of all nursing homes identified in the SFF initiative. This updated and expanded list identifies facilities by the category they fall within, such as:

New Additions: nursing homes added within approximately the past six months;
Not Improved: nursing homes that have failed to improve significantly in at least one survey after being named as a SFF nursing home;
Improving: nursing homes that have significantly improved on the most recent survey, including no findings of harm to any resident and no systemic potential for harm;
Recently Graduated: nursing homes that have sustained significant improvement for about 12 months, indicating an upward trend in quality improvement compared to the nursing home’s prior history of care; and those
No Longer in Medicare and Medicaid: nursing homes that were either terminated by CMS from participation in Medicare within the past few months, or voluntarily chose not to continue participation.

The SFF initiative was created by CMS in 1998 in response to the number of facilities that were consistently providing poor quality of care. Those facilities were periodically instituting enough improvement so that they would pass one survey, only to fail the next (for many of the same problems as before). Facilities with this compliance history rarely addressed underlying systemic problems that were giving rise to repeated cycles of serious deficiencies.

This link is provided to you by Healthcare Collateral Consulting, LLC:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=2897&intNumPerPage=10&checkDate=&checkKey=&srchType=1&numDays=3500&srchOpt=0&srchData=&srchOpt=0&srchData=&keywordType=All&chkNewsType=1%2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5&intPage=&showAll=&pYear=&year=&desc=&cboOrder=date

Monitoring Healthcare Facility Survey Results: Healthcare Collateral Consulting, LLC can offer its clients facility survey results as a likely time saving opportunity. HCC can also recognize potential collateral issues with a revolving line of credit if the facility is non-compliant from its survey results. HCC has access to the Surveys, Certifications, and Reporting database – this includes facility characteristics and health deficiencies issued during the most recent state inspection and recent complaint investigations. Healthcare facilities are required to be in compliance with the State and Federal regulations, to receive payment under the Medicare or Medicaid programs. HCC can save its clients the burden of identifying non-compliant facilities and alerting them of any impending collateral issues. Healthcare Collateral Consulting, LLC can increase visibility and productivity by centralizing this survey monitoring function.

If you are interested in learning more, or would like to get in touch with Mr. David J Lacasse; He can be reached at the following email address: djlacasse@gmail.com . Please included your name, title, company name and phone number where Mr. Lacasse can reach you.