6 Bay Area facilities on leaked list of troubled nursing homes

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - According to the federal government, six Bay Area nursing homes have a "persistent record of poor care."

The "secret" list, compiled by the federal government, contains more than 400 U.S. nursing homes and was leaked this week by Pennsylvania U.S. senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey. They say people seeking care for their loved one deserve to know.

A Daytona Beach nursing home made the list of 400 after allegedly failing to clean blood sugar measuring devices between testing different patients, risking infection.

"People are in nursing homes because they need skilled care and they need the services that are required by the regulations, but there's a range within those homes as you can see," USF College of Aging Studies Professor Kathryn Hyre said.

There are roughly 15,000 nursing homes in the U.S.; 88 of the facilities are part of what's called the Special Focus Facility Program, created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It identifies homes with systematic health, safety, and sanitary problems and puts them on a plan to rectify the issues, inspecting them multiple times a year.

The 400 nursing homes leaked Wednesday qualify for the program, but currently, the feds say the list is capped and because resources the homes can't be added.

"There's 400 homes out there not provided high-quality care. There's always going to be someone on the bottom. The question is are you raising the bottom up high enough that it's providing good care," Hyre said.

"We continually survey our residents and families for customer satisfaction," Hawthorne Health and Rehab of Sarasota said. "We have a below national average rate for hospital re-admissions."

We also heard from Bristol at Tampa Rehab and Nursing Center.

"We will continue to put tremendous resources into our staff, programming, and overall quality of care enhancements," Tampa Rehab and Nursing Center said in a statement released Wednesday. "Outstanding clinical outcomes and experiences are what we are excited to continue."

These are the nursing homes in the Bay Area included on the list:

-North Rehabilitation Center
-Oak Haven Rehab and Nursing Center
-Bristol at Tampa Rehab and Nursing Center
-Hawthorne Health and Rehab of Sarasota
-Excel Care Center
-Brighton Gardens of Tampa

LINK: Read the full list here (PDF)