The federal government will release an updated list of the nation’s most troubled nursing homes monthly, officials with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said.
CMS previously kept a list of about 400 of nursing homes with serious patterns of poor care under wraps from the public, even though the facilities met many of the same criteria that landed 88 other institutions on a public list of nursing homes flagged for extra scrutiny under its Special Focus Facilities program.
The decision to go public and regularly update the larger list came on the heels of a report Tuesday by Sens. Bob Casey,D-Scranton, and Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, about under-performing nursing homes. Casey and Toomey had requested the additional information, saying families need to consider such data when making critical decisions.
The report revealed that four Western Pennsylvania nursing homes, including two in Westmoreland County, and one each in Beaver and Allegheny counties, were on the larger list of nursing homes deemed in need of special monitoring.
Casey and Toomey applauded the announcement from CMS.
The pair vowed to work to ensure that CMS has adequate resources to full monitor all under performing nursing homes.
“Our bipartisan work will ensure that families have all the information at their fingertips when choosing a nursing home,” Casey said.
