Belmont Lodge of Pueblo Remains on Federal “Special Focus Facility” List

The United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “CMS,” has announced that Belmont Lodge of Pueblo, managed by SavaSeniorCare, has remained on its Special Focus Facility list as of July 20, 2017.

According to the CMS Internet Website, CMA and States (including Colorado) 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 will 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, we require that the problems be corrected. If serious problems are not corrected, we may terminate the nursing home’s participation in Medicare and Medicaid.

Most nursing homes have some deficiencies, with the average being 6-7 deficiencies per survey. Most nursing homes correct their problems within a reasonable period of time. However, we have found that a minority of nursing homes have:

• More problems than other nursing homes (about twice the average number of deficiencies),
• More serious problems than most other nursing homes (including harm or injury experienced by residents), and
• A pattern of serious problems that has persisted over a long period of time (as measured over the three years before the date the nursing home was first put on the SFF list).

Although such nursing homes would periodically institute enough improvements in the presenting problems that they would be in substantial compliance on one survey, significant problems would often re-surface by the time of the next survey. Such facilities with a “yo-yo” or “in and out” compliance history rarely addressed underlying systemic problems that were giving rise to repeated cycles of serious deficiencies. To address this problem CMS created the “Special Focus Facility” (SFF) initiative.

In addition to its placement on the SFF list, CMS has rated Belmont Lodge as a “one star” facility – out of a five possible stars.

In its Internet advertising, SavaSeniorCare reports that Belmont Lodge has been awarded a “Quality Initiative” award by a nursing home organization.

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