GRUNDY CENTER, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Two Iowa nursing homes cited for resident abuse and dozens of other regulatory violations have been added to the federal government’s list of the nation’s worst care facilities.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has added Caring Acres Nursing and Rehab Center in Anita and Grundy Care Center in Grundy Center to its list of nursing homes eligible for inclusion on CMS’ periodic list of Special-Focus Facilities.

At any given time, no more than two nursing homes per state appear on CMS’ list of federally designated Special-Focus Facilities, which consists of homes that have recurring, serious problems with resident care.

In Iowa, those two homes are Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Care Center in West Des Moines and Garden View Care Center in Shenandoah. Those two homes have had special-focus status for eight months and six months, respectively.

The federal list also includes hundreds of other nursing homes — typically, 10 per state — where ongoing quality-of-care violations have made them eligible for special-focus status. Caring Acres and Grundy Care Center are among the homes added recently to the eligibility list.

Once a home is designated a Special-Focus Facility, it receives additional oversight and assistance from the government that’s intended to improve resident care. The other homes that are merely deemed eligible do not receive that assistance. They appear on the list, some for as long as 10 years, and then drop off without ever receiving the federal help.