Virginia Beach nursing home retains certification, funding

VIRGINIA BEACH

Officials of a Virginia Beach nursing home that had been in jeopardy of losing government health insurance have reached an agreement with a federal agency to maintain its funding.

Attorneys for Beacon Shores Nursing and Rehabilitation came to an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday to maintain the home’s certification.

Beacon Shores has been on a list of poor-performing nursing homes since February 2008 when it was tagged as a “special focus facility” by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . The federal agency gives that designation to nursing homes with chronic problems that continue even after facility officials have been given the opportunity to make improvements.

Two state health agencies informed Beacon Shores, located at 340 Lynn Shores Drive, in late March that proceedings had begun to end Medicare and Medicaid payments to the nursing home .

However, attorneys with the home’s management group met with officials from the federal agency this week and were able to stop those proceedings. Denny Barnett, director of operations for the management group that runs Beacon Shores, said earlier this week that the agency had been unaware of some recent improvements to the facility.

Currently, 135 nursing homes are on the special focus facilities list, including three in Virginia. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services , about half the nursing homes in the special focus program improve their quality of care within 24 to 30 months, and about 16 percent are terminated from Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare is a federal insurance program for the elderly, while Medicaid is a state and federal insurance program for the low-income and disabled. Nursing homes that lose government funding usually end up closing.

The idea behind the special focus facility initiative was to give people more tools in selecting nursing care and to provide an incentive for facilities to improve.

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com