Barack Obama

Obama Calls on HHS to Provide List of Failing Nursing Homes

Thursday, December 6, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Amy Brundage, 202 228 5511

Obama will pursue legislative action, restrict HHS funding if list not provided within one week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today called on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt to release the list of the 128 “special focus" facilities, the list of worst performing nursing homes in the country.

Recent press accounts have reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services refuses to make the list of underperforming nursing homes public, but has shared the information with lobbyists who represent the nursing home industry.

Obama has requested HHS make this information public immediately and stop withholding this information from America’s seniors and their families. If Secretary Leavitt does not comply, Obama has promised to take legislative action.

below is a copy of the letter:

December 6, 2007

The Honorable Michael Leavitt
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20201

Dear Secretary Leavitt:

I am writing to express my serious objections to the withholding of critical information about nursing home conditions from America’s senior citizens.

An estimated 1.5 million residents live in approximately 16,000 nursing homes in the United States. This year, federal, state, and local governments will spend $82 billion on nursing home care, of which $56.5 billion will come from the federal government through Medicare and Medicaid. All nursing homes that receive federal funding are subject to federal regulation and annual inspections. Under federal law, these inspections are a matter of public record and are made available to nursing home residents and their family members, and summaries of the inspection reports are posted on your department’s Nursing Home Compare website (www.medicare.gov/NHCompare).

These federal inspection and public disclosure requirements ensure that nursing home residents are receiving the high quality of care that they deserve. Given the importance of protecting one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, I was disturbed to learn that your department is withholding information about some of the worst-performing nursing homes in the country.

According to press accounts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has compiled a list of 128 “special focus facilities��? that are among the worst-performing nursing homes in the country. These facilities are ones that have consistently been cited for serious violations of health and safety regulations – violations such as improper medical care, preventable falls and accidents, pressure sores, serious neglect, and physical abuse. If these violations are not corrected, the facility could be subject to penalties and termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

However, of the 128 worst-performing facilities, only 54 of these nursing homes have been publicly identified; one of these facilities is in my home state of Illinois.[1] The remaining 74 facilities have not been disclosed to the public, even though this information would be invaluable not only to current residents of those facilities but also to potential residents and their family members. It is incomprehensible why the complete list of 128 facilities – which is determined on the basis of publicly available inspection reports – would not be made public.

Although the names of the 128 “special focus facilities��? have not been made available to the public, press accounts suggest that the complete list has been provided to the American Health Care Association, the main lobbying organization for the nursing home industry. Providing information about poorly performing nursing homes to the lobbyists who represent those facilities, and not to the senior citizens who would most benefit from this information, is outrageous and yet another example of how this Administration has placed the corporate interest before the public interest.

I call on you to immediately release the names of all 128 “special focus facilities.��? If you refuse to do so, I will pursue all possible legislative actions to compel the release of this information. Please notify my office by Thursday, December 13, 2007, as to whether you will comply with this request.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

[1] Although press accounts indicate that the names of 54 facilities have been made public, the list posted on the HHS website only includes information about 52 facilities.