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Hillary and Harkin Introduce Bill to Force Disclosure of Names of Worst Nursing Homes

By Jeralyn, Section Legislation
Posted on Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 11:51:46 AM EST
Tags: Elder Care (all tags)
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As someone with a parent in a nursing home, I am very glad to learn that Hillary Clinton and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have introduced a bill "that would force a federal agency to make public its list of the nation's worst nursing homes."

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has compiled a list of 128 nursing homes that have repeatedly fallen in and out of compliance with government health and safety regulations and caused harm to their residents. Those so-called "special-focus facilities" are now subject to more frequent government inspections.

Two weeks ago, the agency released an abbreviated, public version of the list that identified only 52 of the facilities. The agency refused to release the full list of 128 homes, even though it had already provided the full list to nursing home association lobbyists at the American Health Care Association.

The lobbying group that got the full list is the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. [More...]

As to why a call for release of the list and demand letter is not enough:

Clinton and Harkin introduced the Nursing Home Quality and Transparency Act in the Senate last week. Clinton said the proposed law would ensure that the public has access to the names of all nursing homes designated as special-focus facilities.

"It is absolutely inexcusable that CMS has withheld this information from seniors and their families who are making critical life decisions about long-term care," Clinton said in a statement. "Even more disturbing are press reports that CMS has shared this information with nursing home industry lobbyists, but not with the public."

The legislation provides:

.... that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shall disclose within 30 days the names of all nursing homes that appear on the full list of special-focus facilities.

The agency's excuse for releasing the names only to the trade organization:

[Agency spokeswoman Mary] Kahn has said the agency's "goal in releasing the list of facilities to the nursing home trade groups was to challenge them to police themselves, not as lobbyists, but in their role as technical advisers to their members. We view these groups as part of the chain of accountability for poor-performing nursing homes."

In related news, the Carlyle Group's plan