3 Illinois Nursing Homes Are Stuck on Government List for Ongoing Poor Quality Ratings and Care Citations
A recent effort sponsored by Pennsylvania senators Pat Toomey and his counterpart Bob Casey shows that the nation’s most troubled nursing homes require expanded support, specific to expanding the Special Focus Facility program and the list provided by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state inspectors which publicly review ongoing nursing home care and identify quality issues.
According to CMS officials, the “Special Focus Facility” (SFF) program was created to identify nursing homes that are not meeting health care or fire safety standards and are continuously cited for deficiencies.
“Although such nursing homes may periodically institute enough improvements to correct problems identified on one inspection, significant problems would often resurface by the time of the next inspection. Such facilities with a “yo-yo” or “in and out” compliance history rarely address underlying systemic problems that give rise to repeated cycles of serious deficiencies, which pose risks to residents’ health and safety.” – CMS Special Focus Facility (“SFF”) Program
As of April 21, 2021, three Illinois facilities on the CMS SFF that have NOT improved after several months on the list included:
- Aperion Care Capitol
555 West Carpenter, Springfield, IL
Aperion Care Capitol has been on the CMS list of poorly performing nursing homes for 26 months.
- Elevate Care Waukegan
2222 West 14th Street, Waukegan, IL
Elevate Care has been on the CMS list of poorly performing nursing homes for six months.
- Generations at Rock Island
2545 24th Street, Rock Island, IL
Generations at Rock Island has been on the CMS list of poorly performing nursing homes for ten months.
The Associated Press reports that about 1.3 million Americans are nursing home residents, cared for in more than 15,700 facilities, about 3% of which are part of the SFF program.
New List of Illinois’ Worst Nursing Homes
Unfortunately, none of the Illinois skilled nursing facilities that made the 2020 SFF watch list have graduated from the program. And, there are currently 20 SFF homes that made the most current SFF list for Illinois.
- Aperion Care Chicago Heights: 4 months
- Arcadia Care Danville: 4 months
- Arista Healthcare: 4 months
- Bria of Belleville: 1 month
- Bridge Care Suites: 4 months
- Carriage Rehab and Healthcare: 4 months
- Champaign Urbana Nursing and Rehab: 23 months
- Collinsville Rehab and Healthcare Center: 13 months
- Elmwood Terrace Healthcare Center: 4 months
- Gardenview Manor: 40 months
- Integrity Healthcare of Belleville: 4 months
- Integrity Healthcare of Smithton: 4 months
- Lena Living Center: 4 months
- Loft Rehabilitation and Nursing: 17 months
- Prairie Creek Village: 23 months
- Sharon Health Care Willows: 3 months
- Stearns Nursing and Rehab Center: 4 months
- Timbercreek Rehab and Healthcare Center: 1 month
- University Rehab: 1 month
- Willow Rose Rehab and Health: 13 months
Many of these homes repeatedly make the quarterly violators list provided by Levin & Perconti nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys using data from the Illinois Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) first quarterly reports of poor-performing nursing homes in Illinois. These are facilities cited for a range of abuse, safety, and neglect violations of the Nursing Home Care Act but, ironically, not always included in the greater CMS SFF list.
How Can You Use SFF List Information To Evaluate Care and Quality Standards at Illinois Nursing Homes?
The choice to move a family member into a nursing home or long-term care facility is often anxiety-driven. Choosing the best home will require a complete evaluation of a facility’s ability to give the constant care and supervision needed so your loved one will not be neglected, abused, or forgotten. Because of this, we often advise family members to consider taking time to research and prepare before making any nursing home decisions on behalf of their loved ones.
If you are considering admission to a nursing home for yourself or a loved one, including one that is on the SFF list, you may want to:
- Visit the Nursing Home Compare website to view information about the nursing home’s star ratings, staffing, quality measures, and inspections.
- Visit the nursing home. Talk to staff, residents, physicians, and other families. Ask the nursing home staff what they are doing to improve the quality of care for residents in the nursing home.
- If the nursing home is an SFF, look at the length of time that a nursing home has been on the SFF list. This is particularly important if the nursing home has been an SFF nursing home for more than 18-24 months. Such nursing homes are closer to either graduating (due to improvements) or ending their participation in Medicare and Medicaid.
- Call your local State Ombudsman, Administration on Aging, and local groups to find out more about the nursing home.
Suppose you are concerned about a loved one who is a resident at an SFF candidate home in Illinois. In that case, you can also request a free consultation with a nursing home abuse and neglect attorney at Levin & Perconti. Our attorneys investigate thousands of complaints each year involving assisted living, long-term care, and skilled nursing facilities that have failed to uphold adequate safeguards in the greater Chicago area and surrounding communities in Illinois.
Speak Up Against Nursing Home Wrongdoers
At Levin & Perconti, we want to help prevent vulnerable nursing home care from being exploited and have the experience needed to identify failures in nursing home care and hold inadequate performing facilities accountable. Our firm is home to the most widely-known and respected nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys in Illinois, achieving multiple million-dollar verdicts and settlements. We are ready to provide you with a free legal consultation at (312) 332-2872 or by scheduling an appointment toll-free by calling 1-877-374-1417.
