Before you choose a nursing home for a loved one you may want to take a look at the "Special Focus Facility" list. The "Special Focus Facility" list is published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to monitor certain nursing homes with a pattern of deficiencies.
What is a SFF?
Facilities can appear on the SFF list for a number of reasons. These reasons include: more deficiencies than normal, more serious deficiencies, or a pattern of deficiencies that persists over a long period of time.
Special Focus Facilities are inspected twice a year, more often than normal facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services typically expect a final resolution of the facility in terms of graduation out of the SFF classification or termination of Medicare and Medicaid participation within 18-24 months.
What Can We Learn?
The SFF list reports important information that any family considering a nursing home on the list should consider. The list first identifies facilities newly added to the program. The list then identified facilities that have improved, have not improved, have graduated and that have terminated participation in Medicare & Medicaid.
You can download the Special Focus Facility Report here: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/Downloads/SFFList.pdf