CMS’s Special Focus Facility Program for Nursing Homes has not yielded lasting improvements

CMS’s Special Focus Facility Program for Nursing Homes has not yielded lasting improvements
OIG press release; 10/29/25
This report evaluated the effectiveness of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Special Focus Facility (SFF) program, the agency’s flagship effort to address quality problems at the nation’s poorest-performing nursing homes. OIG found nearly two-thirds of facilities that graduated from the SFF program between 2013 and 2022 later exhibited recurring quality issues. Among nursing homes that received a serious deficiency in the three years after graduating, 38% put residents at risk of serious injury, harm, impairment or death. For program improvement, OIG recommended that CMS use more nonfinancial remedies, assess enforcement effectiveness—especially for staffing deficiencies—and incorporate ownership data.
Publisher's note: It's interesting to see what works - and what doesn't work - from the CMS / OIG perspective.