Nursing Homes

Activity Certification

The Bureau of Health Provider Standards is the State of Alabama's regulatory agency responsible for licensing and/or certifying health care facilities. The bureau, as part of that responsibility, also certifies applicants as Activity Professionals who meet the requirements as defined in the “Rules of Alabama State Board of Health, Alabama Department of Public Health, Chapter 420-5-10 Nursing Facilities” and the Federal Code of Regulations 42 CFR Part 483.15 (f) (2) Activities. Learn more about getting certified.

Selecting a Nursing Home

Selecting a nursing home can be difficult. The purpose of this site is to provide you with background knowledge about nursing homes, what to expect, and to begin general guidance. The overall goal of nursing home care is to assist individual residents in attaining or maintaining their highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being.

The Alabama Department of Public Health, Bureau of Health Provider Standards, wishes to provide you with some information and resources available to help you make an informed selection regarding nursing home placement. Using our Health Care Facilities Directory, start a list of nursing homes in your area, geographically located conveniently to you, your family, or your friends. Our list will tell you whether they are Medicare or Medicare and Medicaid certified, the number of beds, and if they provide skilled nursing care.

Special Focus Facilities (SFF) - The Special Focus Facilities are nursing homes that (a) have had a history of serious quality issues and (b) are included in a special program to stimulate improvements in their quality of care. Currently, in Alabama, only one nursing home is listed as an SFF. See below.

Also available are the results of our most recent staff survey. These results list the areas in which the facility did not meet Federal certification requirements, the severity of the problem, and how many residents were affected. Refer to our Health Care Facilities home page to review the health care facilities' deficiencies.

Additionally, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hosts a site that allows you to compare nursing homes nationally.

Once you've started your list, talk to friends, neighbors, or coworkers about recent experiences they had with any of the nursing homes. Following these reviews, call the facilities to schedule a tour. You can get additional information from the Local and State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program by going to Alabama Age Line.

Some of the things you will want to observe for are:

• Residents are clean, appropriately dressed, well-groomed, and have a pleasant attitude
• Both the inside and outside of the nursing home appear clean and well-kept.
• The levels of lighting, sound, odor, temperature, and furnishings are agreeable and pleasant.
• Staff wear name tags, and interactions with residents are warm, polite, and respectful.
• Resident rooms incorporate residents' belongings and have a homelike atmosphere.
• Meals are appealing, and staff assist residents at meal and snack times.
• Resident rooms and common areas have adequate safety precautions (handrails, call lights, nonskid surfaces, smoke detectors, sprinklers).
• Residents are participating in meaningful activities.

Things you will need to ask about are:

• Levels of care provided and special needs that can be addressed: custodial care, personal care (barbers and beauticians), skilled nursing, rehabilitation services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social services, mental health services, podiatry services.
• Payment and financial obligations for services covered.
• Staff education is provided to all staff, including the prevention/detection of resident abuse.
• Whether or not hiring practices include a background check.
• Physician selection and availability.
• How food likes, dislikes, and menu choices are made.
• Review the activity calendar and see if any activities interest you. Ask how activities are adapted for residents with differing needs.
• There are alternatives to Nursing Home placement and care for eligible participants, including those with serious medical conditions, through the Alabama Medicaid Waiver Program.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Special Focus Facility (SFF) Program

The nursing home currently designated for the SFF program is:

Birmingham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, LLC
1000 Dugan Avenue
Birmingham, AL 35214

On January 12, 2023, Birmingham Nursing and Rehabilitation was notified of the designation of SFF in Alabama by the Bureau of Health Provider Standards (HPS). The selection of SFF was based on a persistent pattern of poor compliance history for the prior three standard health survey cycles, and complaint survey performance during the prior three years.

Additional information on this selection is described below:

• A compliance history with deficiencies at a scope and severity of "Harm" or higher, or Substandard Quality of Care, was documented in 2019 and 2022.
• 06/22/2019 = Recertification survey with immediate jeopardy (IJ) deficiencies related to notification of changes, quality of care, and administration.
• 05/03/2022 = Abbreviated/Complaint survey with IJ deficiencies related to care planning, accidents, behavioral health, administration, and governing body.
• Insufficient weekend staffing

If this facility makes significant improvement after four standard surveys or 24 months from the date of selection as an SFF (whichever comes first), the situation will be reviewed by HPS and CMS to determine eligibility for graduation from the program.

View detailed explanations of this program and how it works.