Two area nursing homes are among the country’s worst.
Carolyn Boone Lewis Health Care Center in Southeast D.C. and Ruxton Health of Woodbridge in Woodbridge, Va., placed on a list of the 54 poorest-performing nursing homes released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“These facilities … made the list because of a history of poor performance,” CMS regional spokeswoman Lorraine Ryan said Thursday.
The Carolyn Boone Lewis Center was cited for 18 health deficiencies by the D.C. Department of Health in June 2007. One citation was for actual harm to a resident resulting from dangers in the nursing home area. The center, certified by CMS in 1982, has 177 residents.
The average number of citations received by a nursing home in D.C. is 15.
Virginia health officials cited Ruxton Health for 21 health deficiencies in August, its last inspection. The nursing home has 106 residents and was certified by CMS in 2002. The average number in Virginia is eight.
Neither nursing home would comment Thursday.
CMS, which oversees the federal government’s health insurance programs for the elderly and poor, designates nursing homes as special focus facilities if they are in the bottom 5 to 10 percent in their state’s inspection survey results.
The Southeast and Woodbridge nursing homes will be inspected twice as often and may face consequences ranging from fines to termination of their Medicaid and Medicare funding if they do not improve. Ryan said CMS works with special focus facilities to upgrade their performance.
“Our ultimate goal is the safety and welfare of the nursing home clients,” Ryan said. “But it’s disruptive if you have to move people out of a facility.”
The Southeast nursing home has been designated as a special focus facility for almost three years, and the Woodbridge facility has had the designation for a year and a half.
No nursing homes in Maryland made the list.
