New Jersey Nursing Homes Classified as “Special Focus Facilities,” Under Greater Scrutiny
The government has attempted to crack down on nursing homes that do not provide adequate medical care or treatment for residents. What regulators have found is that negligent nursing home providers often make quick fixes in order to satisfy safety and health inspectors, only to immediately return to being negligent after the inspectors leave. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and individual states developed the Special Focus Facility Initiative, with the CMS compiling a list of nursing homes that are failing to provide the quality of care required by Medicare and Medicaid.
The “Special Focus Facilities” list comes out yearly. The annual list identifies nursing homes with a higher quantity of problems than other nursing homes, nursing homes with more severe problems than most other nursing homes, and nursing homes with a pattern of serious health risks that has gone unfixed over a lengthy period of time.
There are a few New Jersey nursing home facilities on the “Special Focus Facilities” list. For example, the Mount Laurel Center for Rehab and Healthcare in Mount Laurel, NJ was recently added to the “Special Focus” list. As a result, this facility will be under greater scrutiny in the coming months and years. You need to be aware of this facility’s reported deficiencies if your loved one is a resident there or if you are thinking about admitting your loved one to this nursing home.
One New Jersey facility, Waters Edge Healthcare & Rehab in Trenton, has been on the Special Focus list for a while and has begun to show improvement. Given the reported issues with this facility in the past, however, you may want to be aware of that if you have a loved one there or are thinking about admitting a family member to this nursing home.
Your elderly loved one deserves to be treated with dignity and respect as they transition into their later years. Before you make a decision about which nursing home to admit your loved one into, you should check things out on your own to get a good sense of whether a particular nursing home is sufficiently staffed and trained to care for residents. You may also want to talk with a qualified, compassionate nursing home attorney who can help you better understand all of your options.
If you have any questions about your loved one’s care or if there is any information you need about NJ nursing homes, you should talk with the experienced nursing home lawyers at the Sugarman Law Firm. Barry Sugarman is an experienced nursing home negligence attorney who will make sure your loved one gets the care they deserve. Contact Mr. Sugarman today to schedule a free consultation.
