Searchable database: Troubled nursing homes

Search by state or category for facilities that have had a history of serious quality issues, as listed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday released a list of those nursing homes that have had a history of serious quality issues and are included in a special program to stimulate improvements in their quality of care.

The CMS and states visit nursing homes on a regular basis to determine if the nursing homes are providing the quality of care that Medicare and Medicaid requires. These "survey" or "inspection" teams identify deficiencies in the quality of care that is provided. They also identify any deficiencies in meeting CMS safety requirements (such as protection from fire hazards). When deficiencies are identified, CMS requires that the problems be corrected. If serious problems are not corrected, CMS may terminate the nursing home's participation in Medicare and Medicaid.

The list designates troubled facilities dubbed as a "special focus facility" -- meaning that a home needs more oversight. Homes with this designation get state inspections at six-month intervals, rather than annually. Officials released a partial list of 54 homes in November, resisting calls to disclose a full list of homes that needed more oversight. The full list comes after Democratic lawmakers began pushing for full disclosure. The government says it will update its listed on troubled homes on a quarterly basis, and that the next release is scheduled for April.