Two senators from the state of Pennsylvania, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, published a report that revealed information that was previously unavailable to the public: The names of nursing homes that were found to “persistently underperform.”
The name of the facility that was selected for the SFF program, Riverside Health and Rehab, was previously released to the public, as were the names of all chosen SFF candidates. However, the report published information about five additional nursing homes in South Carolina that were considered qualified for the program’s additional inspections, but were ultimately left out of the final selection as a result of government budget cuts.
The South Carolina nursing homes that were candidates for the Special Focus Facilities program, but were not selected as subjects for the initiative are:
- Commander Nursing Center in Florence, SC
- Blue Ridge of Sumter
- Life Care Center of Hilton Head
- Compass Post Acute Rehabilitation in Conway, SC
- PruittHealth – Blythewood in Columbia, SC
Nursing home facilities that are selected for the SFF program are chosen for increased inspections every six months, while those that are not chosen are inspected once every 9 to 15 months. When evaluating the conditions of nursing homes to choose which would be subjected to the increased inspections, the full list of 440 candidates were considered to be performing poorly enough to need more oversight. However, a lack of resources meant a final list of only 88 facilities.
The actual number of nursing homes in the United States that would qualify for the Special Focus Facilities program likely exceeds the 440 figure, as the list has not been amended since 2014. The current list is also a significant decrease from previous years — 167 facilities were chosen for the program from a list of 835 candidates in 2010.
The newly-publicized information reveals systematic issues in the nation’s network of elder care facilities. Nursing homes around the country are not meeting the needs of their patients, and at worse, inflicting intentional harm.
At Pierce, Sloan, Kennedy & Early LLC, our attorneys are committed to holding these establishments accountable for endangering vulnerable older people. Schedule a free consultation with us if your family needs representation from a dedicated legal team — contact us online or via phone at (843) 968-0886.