Basin nursing homes fare well

Deficiencies addressed

COLUMBIA BASIN - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services listed 54 nursing homes having the most trouble with safety deficiencies and none are in Grant and Adams counties.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted the names of the underperforming nursing homes on their Web site Thursday. Franklin Hills Health & Rehab in Spokane was the only Eastern Washington nursing home listed.

Although nursing homes from Grant and Adams counties weren't included on the list, a comparison search of nursing homes on the Medicare Web site brings up health and fire-safety deficiencies identified during the facilities' annual surveys.

SunBridge Care & Rehab in Moses Lake had 10 health deficiencies and 11 fire-safety deficiencies. Sunbridge Special Care Center in Moses Lake had four health deficiencies and six fire-safety deficiencies.

"We recognize that while our care center is not on this list, we were notified by the Washington state health department for historical survey deficiencies, all of which have been corrected with action plans that remain in effect today," SunBridge Special Care Center Administrator Angie Spangler stated. "Our internal quality assurance process continues to validate that the care we provide to our residents is of high quality, and we are proud of our accomplishments over the past three years. Our nursing center is currently in compliance with all state and federal government regulations."

Spangler stated SunBridge is committed to the Moses Lake community. She invited family members to contact her at 509-765-7835 with any questions.

"As administrator, I understand and support the need to inform the public when making a decision to place a loved one in a nursing home," she stated. "Our team of caring staff continues to focus on providing safe, comfortable and caring services to our residents."

Avalon Care Center in Othello had eight health deficiencies and two fire-safety deficiencies. Administrator and Registered Nurse Annie Smith said the facility had fewer deficiencies than the average number given to facilities.

"We did well," Smith said. "It was not a bad survey at all."

Smith said deficiencies can be rated from "A" to "G" - "G" being most serious. The facility had no "G"-rated deficiencies.

"We are in compliance and we had all of those (deficiencies) corrected," she said.

Quincy Valley Convalescent Center had six health deficiencies and six fire-safety deficiencies.

"We had very minimal deficiencies," said Administrator Mehdi Merred.

Merred said the center did wonderfully in their annual survey. The nursing-home inspector and fire inspector both commended staff.

Merred said he was aware of only one physical change to the facility needing to be made. The grease filter on the hood above a stove was found to be inadequate. Other changes were changes to policy and procedures.

"There's no deficiency in patient care," he noted.

All of the deficiencies were corrected, he said.

Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata had nine health deficiencies and five fire-safety deficiencies.

"We did have a good survey," said Public Relations Coordinator Susan Scheib. "Deficiencies can be the smallest thing."

Scheib noted her mother is a resident of the nursing home, and Scheib believes the home and certified nursing assistants are wonderful.

She said the facility's deficiencies were addressed, as required of all facilities.

McKay Healthcare and Rehab Center in Soap Lake had two health deficiencies and no fire-safety deficiencies. Administrator Lin Cowlishaw said the facility was happy with the survey results. One of the deficiencies happened when a staff member became nervous during the survey and forgot to use a paper towel to turn off the water, Cowlishaw said.

The other deficiency was a tuberculosis test being late for one of the staff members.

"We were really very good," she said. "We were good. In fact, they didn't come back and re-survey."

Other items found were easy to fix, such as a chip of paint found on a garbage-can lid, she said.

One of the homes on the government's list was Franklin Hills Health & Rehab Center in Spokane. Brian Teed, the facility's administrator, said he did not have a problem with Medicare publicizing the list. But he said regional differences play a huge role in how nursing homes are graded. He said he recently helped run a facility in Portland, Ore., and nursing homes were graded much easier there. He took over the Spokane facility in September, and found it to be well run.

"In the Portland, Ore., area, this facility would be deficiency-free or close to it. Instead we got 15 tags. We got tagged because there was bird poop on the bench outside," Teed said.

"I would put my mother in here," he added.

Kerry Weems, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said states pick from a list submitted by CMS when determining those that get the special focus designation. He said that because of regional differences, a home that makes the list in one state may actually provide better care than a home that's not listed in another state.

"I'm careful in saying they're not the worst performers, but they are chronic underperformers," Weems said.

Weems said he hopes that naming the homes makes it easier for them to improve.

"We're hopeful making this disclosure will put the right kind of pressure, helpful pressure, on the facilities to move to the path of improvement rather than the path to termination," Weems said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.