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CMS SFFCMS Special Focus Facility (SFF) Program List
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · Tier-1 · research-only (never on individual profiles)
104 active SFFs + 361 candidates as of Q2 2026. CMS-published list of nursing homes flagged for repeat serious deficiencies. The most-actionable consumer-facing quality signal in the CMS dataset. OIG October 2025 (OIG-25-00163): 64% of SFF graduates relapse to substandard quality.
How this source shows up on Fonteum.
Drives the brand-hub `/special-focus-facilities` surface. Per-facility SFF status flag joins to Care Compare NH Provider Information via CCN.
What this source does NOT mean
Not joined to ownership-percentage at the federal level. CMS rejected the OIG October 2025 recommendation that SFF flag be tied to ownership-percentage transparency. Fonteum cannot synthesize an SFF-ownership join the federal government has explicitly declined to publish.
Per-field display contract.
Every field below has a `display_allowed` flag in the §94 provenance schema. Write-locked fields are captured to provenance for audit but never rendered on profile pages.
Renders on profile
6 fieldsWhat we can’t infer from this source.
- Small dataset (~104 active + ~361 candidates) — state-aggregate inference is noisy.
- QSO-23-01-NH REVISED (January 2026) replaced staffing with falls prevalence as candidate criterion; pre/post cohorts not directly comparable.
- OIG October 2025: 64% of SFF graduates relapse to substandard quality — graduation does not equal cure.
- CMS rejected the OIG ownership-disclosure recommendation; SFF is not federally joined to PE/REIT ownership transparency.
Authority, license, refresh cadence.
Authority
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Tier
Tier-1 · research-only (never on individual profiles)
Refresh cadence
Quarterly (CMS QSO-23-01-NH REVISED, January 2026; replaced staffing with falls prevalence as candidate selection criterion).
License
U.S. government public-domain works (17 U.S.C. § 105). Attribution required: 'Source: CMS Special Focus Facility Program List · Snapshot {YYYY-MM-DD}'. License ↗
Attribution requirement
Source: CMS Special Focus Facility Program List · Snapshot {YYYY-MM-DD}
What the source allows.
U.S. government public-domain works. CMS publishes the SFF and Candidate lists with explicit redistribution rights.
What a single field looks like in the graph.
A worked example. Every field surfaced from this source carries this shape of provenance line — source · last checked · display rule · confidence (when applicable).
Field
Per-facility SFF status (display)
Sample value
Active SFF · enrollment 2024-08-01 · CCN 015XXX
Provenance line
Source: CMS Special Focus Facility Program List · Q2 2026 publication · Display rule: per-facility SFF status renders on /special-focus-facilities module + facility profile pages
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