CMS’s Special Focus Facility Program For Nursing Homes Has Not Yielded Lasting Improvements

On October 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published this evaluation which found that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS') Special Focus Facility (SFF) program for nursing homes has not yielded lasting improvements. The objectives were "to determine the extent to which nursing homes that participated in the SFF program improved and maintained improvements after graduating, to assess CMS’s implementation of the program, and to identify factors associated with nursing homes’ graduation from the SFF program and with maintaining improvements after graduation," according to the evaluation . . .