Cedar Falls Health Care Center Put on ‘Special Focus’ List

By Emily Christensen, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

Dec. 8–CEDAR FALLS — A Cedar Falls nursing home is one of 128 nationwide that are being dubbed “special-focus facilities” for repeatedly falling in and out of compliance with government health and safety regulations and causing harm to their residents.

Cedar Falls Health Care Center, 1728 W. Eighth St., is one of four Iowa facilities on the federal list. The affected Iowa homes were made public this week by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. Other Iowa facilities include the Abington on Grand in Ames, Polk City Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Blair House of Burlington.

David Werning, a spokesman for the department, said Friday the latest direction from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told all states they could release the names of the special-focus facilities in their jurisdiction. There had previously been questions about who had the ability to release the list. The special-focus facilities initiative began in 2004 as a way to increase the likelihood that nursing homes that consistently exhibited serious quality programs would improve their quality of care and safety of residents in the near future.

According to CMS, the list was generated based on a three-year compliance history, including surveys and complaints. Nathan Greiner, the Cedar Falls center’s administrator, said they were unsure what criteria was used by the federal government to select this list, and they were surprised by the inclusion. However, they are looking forward with certainty that the home will do well in subsequent inspections.

“We look at our selection to this program as a positive for all parties involved,” Greiner said. “It will be a great opportunity to continue building the positive strides made at Cedar Falls Health Care Center. We welcome every opportunity to improve the quality of life for our residents.”

He continued that the center is “in full compliance with federal guidelines at this point.”

Facilities placed on the list are then subject to two inspections each year. Werning said the idea is that with increased supervision the programs will improve, however, those that don’t make substantial improvements in 18 months will be cut off from the Medicare programs. The Medicare provider agreement can be terminated sooner unless “substantial compliance is achieved,” according to the CMS.

Werning was unsure how long the Cedar Falls home had been on the list, but a check of the state’s Health Facilities Division report card Web site shows that the last survey was completed in December 2006. Greiner said their inclusion is recent. Since 2006, inspectors have visited the home at least five times for survey revisits and complaint investigations. Two of the complaints, one in February 2007 and another in November 2007, resulted in class 1 fines for the health care center.

In February, the state levied $6,500 in fines against the center for failure to assess and provide timely intervention for three of the seven residents reviewed and for failure to ensure each resident was provided proper supervision to prevent accidents for two of the seven reviewed.

In November the state levied a $10,000 fine against the center, the most the state department can fine a health care facility. The fine was the result of an Oct. 3 altercation between John Virgil Osborn, 82, and Orlin Thompson, 72. Osborn died following the incident. An autopsy showed he died of a “heart attack occurrence that could have resulted from the fight.”

Greiner said it was an “unfortunate incident” but wasn’t an indicator of the quality of care provided by employees at the health care center.

“I feel it could have happened anywhere,” he said.

Both Greiner and Werning agree the best thing a family can do is to visit any center they are considering for a loved one.

“People still need to be advised, to some extent, to check into this further. The naming of these four facilities … doesn’t mean ‘Oh my goodness, my grandmother or grandfather is in immediate peril,’” Werning said. “Most of these facilities have had a problem with compliance and have yo-yoed on and off the compliance list, but some have made changes.”

Werning said a prime example is the Blair House of Burlington. The home was announced as part of this initiative when a partial list was released publicly. Werning said that gave many in Iowa the perception that Blair House was the worst in the state.

“That is not the case. The facility is under new ownership and new management. It is 180 degrees different from when it first went on the list, and that doesn’t really reflect what has happened in the last six months,” he said.

Survey results and complaint investigations dating back to 1999 for all Iowa-licensed nursing homes can be found under report cards at https://dia-hfd.iowa.gov/DIA_HFD/Process.do.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.

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