A newly updated Special Focus Facility list released by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is a good tool to review how Illinois stands on what is essentially a “nursing home hall of shame.”
Nursing homes are designated as Special Focus Facilities (SFF) based on deficiencies uncovered during nursing home inspections. Special focus facilities are nursing homes that have far exceeded acceptable levels of nursing home deficiencies.
Special focus facilities are given a time frame to improve the level of care in the facility. If they fail to meet the goals of the program, they can be cut off from receiving CMS funding. A nursing home without CMS funding will not be in business for very long.
The good news is that out of the eight nursing homes added to the SFF program, there were no new Illinois nursing homes added to the list.
The bad news is that one Illinois nursing home that was already on the SFF list has shown no improvement. That nursing home, the Pinckneyville Health Care Center in Pinckneyville, Illinois has been part of the program for five months. Families with loved ones in the Pinckneyville Health Care Center should take notice.
Four Illinois nursing homes were recent graduates of the program. Those nursing homes are the Arthur Home, Elmwood Nursing and Rehab Center, Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook and the Plaza Nursing and Rehab Center in Midlothian.
It’s always good to graduate from the SFF program, but it’s better to not be part of it in the first place.
If you have a loved one who has been injured in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse played a role in that injury, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we have the experience and expertise to manage every aspect of your nursing home neglect case.