(Des Moines, Iowa) – Two western Iowa nursing homes with a history of regulatory violations have been added to a federal list of the nation’s worst care facilities. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the Garden View Care Center in Shenandoah, and the now-shuttered Aspire of Lake Park nursing home, were recently added to the nationwide list of nursing homes whose quality-of-care issues make them eligible for what’s called “special-focus status.” The Special-Focus Facilities list is updated periodically by 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.

It’s not clear why the federal government added Aspire of Lake Park to its list of homes eligible for special-focus status. In the wake of dozens of regulatory violations cited last year, the state revoked the home’s license to operate. On Sept. 30, 2024, CMS announced it was shutting off all Medicare and Medicaid money to the home, which was two months before the agency added the home to the special-focus eligibility list. Asked why a closed facility would be added to the list, a CMS spokeswoman stated that because of a recent order by the Trump administration, the agency is pausing all communications with the public and the media that are not directly related to emergencies.

The now-closed Aspire of Lake Park nursing home. (Photo via Google Earth)

Because the number of Special-Focus Facilities in any given state is capped, additional facilities — even those that have earned CMS’ lowest ratings for quality — cannot be enrolled in Special-Focus Facility program until other special-focus facilities 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.

Currently, three Iowa nursing homes have been eligible for special-focus assistance for more than a year without actually receiving it, including Des Moines’ Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation Center, which has been deemed eligible for 29 months. Currently, the two Iowa nursing homes actually designated as Special-Focus Facilities are the Aspire care facility in Gowrie, and the Arbor Court facility in Muscatine. Aspire of Gowrie has been a special-focus facility for 14 months, and Muscatine’s Arbor Court has had the designation for 20 months.

In addition to the Aspire of Lake Park, Garden View Care Center and the Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation Center, the Iowa nursing homes currently deemed eligible for  the special-focus designation are Des Moines’ Bishop Drumm Retirement Center, Correctionville Specialty Care, 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.