Alabama’s Worst Nursing Homes

Five nursing homes have been identified as the worst nursing homes in Alabama. These nursing homes were placed on the August 30, 2023, Center for Medicare & Medicaid’s Special Focus Facility Candidate List:

Atalla Health and Rehab (Atalla)

Diversicare of Foley (Foley)

NHC Healthcare (Moulton)

Oak Knoll Health and Rehabilitation (Birmingham)

Signature Healthcare of Whitesburg Gardens (Huntsville)

CMS and State Agencies (SAs) inspect nursing homes regularly to determine if they are providing the quality of care that Medicare and Medicaid require to protect and improve residents’ health and safety. When nursing homes do not meet CMS’ health care standards, these instances are cited as deficiencies, and the problems must be corrected.

Most nursing homes have some deficiencies, with an average of six to seven per standard health inspection. However, some nursing homes have:

• More problems than other nursing homes (about twice the average number of deficiencies),

• More serious problems than most other nursing homes (including harm or injury experienced by residents) and

• A pattern of serious problems that have persisted over a long period.

To address nursing homes with repeated cycles of serious deficiencies, CMS operates a Special Focus Facility Program. The five Alabama facilities were recently identified as candidates for this program. For a full list of nursing homes, visit https://www.cms.gov/medicare/provider-enrollment-and-certification/certificationandcomplianc/downloads/sfflist.pdf.