Hillary Clinton Statement on Legislation Requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to Make Public All Nursing Homes Designated as 'Special Focus Facilities'

Today, I introduced legislation with my colleague Senator Tom Harkin to require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to immediately release the names of all 128 nursing homes on its Special Focus Facility list. It is absolutely inexcusable that CMS has withheld this information from seniors and their families who are making critical life decisions about long term care. Even more disturbing are press reports that CMS has shared this information with nursing home industry lobbyists, but not with the public.

Over a week ago, I called on CMS to fully disclose the names of these 128 nursing homes, as well as all information on the nursing home designations that CMS has made. But CMS has failed to act. Therefore, I believe Congress must take action. This legislation would ensure that the American public has access to the names of all nursing homes that the taxpayer-funded CMS designates as poor-performing.

This legislation takes an important first step toward greater transparency in our long term care system. But unfortunately the problem of poor nursing home quality extends far beyond the 128 homes on CMS's special focus facility list. That's why I have laid out a comprehensive agenda to improve nursing home quality and to protect consumers against fraud and abuse in long-term care market. The key components of my agenda are:

• Requiring CMS to provide clear, comprehensive data on the Nursing Home Compare website on 1) up-to-date and accurate nursing home staffing levels; 2) the full - not just abridged - reports from inspections and complaint investigations; 3) any and all information about repeat offenses that CMS compiles; and 4) clear information about the ownership structures of long-term care facilities—so seniors can know who is in charge of the facilities they live in.
• Tripling federal support for nursing home ombudsmen programs to $50 million, to directly improve the accountability and oversight over long-term care facilities. The increased resources will help the ombudsmen in Iowa and across the country to vigorously investigate complaints and tackle new, complex issues in the long term care industry.
• Directing the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to assist state consumer advocates and prosecutors to tackle persistent abuses and new challenges in the long term care industry.
• Strengthening our nursing and direct care workforce with a national system of background checks for long-term care workers and $125 million investment in Workforce Improvement Programs.
• Requiring tough new consumer protections for long-term care insurance, including ending discrimination against veterans and helping states create consumer advocates for long-term care insurance.

The details of Hillary Clinton's Long-Term Care Agenda can be found here.