(Des Moines, Iowa) –  A nursing home in Johnston and one in Griswold, both with a history of staffing shortages, have been added to a federal list of the nation’s worst care facilities. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports, last week, Bishop Drumm Retirement Center of Johnston and Griswold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Cass County were added to the nationwide list of nursing homes whose quality-of-care issues make them eligible for what’s called “special-focus status.”

The national list of Special-Focus Facilities is updated monthly by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and includes homes deemed by the agency to have “a history of serious quality issues.” Nationally, there are 88 nursing facilities designated Special-Focus Facilities, with one or two slots filled by each state. Those homes are enrolled in a special program intended to stimulate improvements in their quality of care through increased regulatory oversight.

Because the number of Special-Focus Facilities is capped, new facilities – even those that have earned CMS’ lowest ratings for quality — can’t be named a Special-Focus Facility until other homes in that same state have either shut down or improved and “graduated” from the program. That’s a process that can take four years or more. As a result, there are several homes in each state that are designated “eligible” for special-focus status due to their ongoing quality-of-care issues, but they are unable to benefit from actual enrollment in the program.

The Griswold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center on Harrison Street in Griswold, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth)

Currently, the two Iowa nursing homes designated as Special-Focus Facilities due to an ongoing pattern of quality-of-care issues are the Aspire care facility in Gowrie, and the Arbor Court facility in Muscatine. Both have been operating for more than a year under the Special-Focus Facility designation. On Oct. 30, Bishop Drumm and the Griswold home were added to CMS’ list of 10 Iowa nursing homes deemed eligible for special-focus status.

The other eight Iowa nursing homes deemed eligible for the designation are Correctionville Specialty Care, Westwood Specialty Care of Sioux City, Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation of Des Moines, Harmony West of West Des Moines, The Ivy at Davenport, Parkview Manor in Wellman, Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Care Center in West Des Moines, and Via of Des Moines.

Griswold Rehab and Healthcare spent 16 months on the eligibility list until it dropped off in April of this year. Last month, state inspectors visited the 31-resident facility and cited it for 17 violations – an unusually high number – although no fines were imposed or held in suspension. The violations included mishandling of residents’ funds, inaccurate resident assessments, failure to meet professional standards, insufficient nursing staff, and inadequate infection prevention and control.

While inspectors were in the building, a resident complained about the lack of staff and noted that earlier that same day she had used her call light to summon someone to change her briefs and she had to wait four hours before anyone responded. She had to sit in her own waste for the full four hours, the woman allegedly reported. In their written report, the state inspectors said one nurse aide stated that when the inspection team had arrived that day, “she was working by herself” in the home. The aide allegedly said “it is very frustrating to be the only staff and being paged by everyone.”

The Iowa nursing homes that have spent the most time on the candidate list are Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation of Des Moines, which has been eligible for special-focus status for 28 months, and Westwood Specialty Care and The Ivy at Davenport, both of which have been eligible for 14 months.