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In This Issue: 1. Federal Nursing Home Site Now Notes Troubled Facilities 2. Evan Farr in the News 3. About The Firm
Federal Nursing Home Site Now Notes Troubled Facilities
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced recently that its Web site comparing nursing homes will now identify listed facilities that have a history of poor performance. From now on, the CMS Nursing Home Compare site will label nursing homes it calls Special Focus Facilities -- those that have repeatedly violated state and federal health and safety rules and that rank in the worst 5 to 10 percent of all inspected facilities in a given state. CMS released the names of the 131 SFF facilities earlier this year, but this is the first time they will also be included on the Nursing Home Compare site. The troubled facilities are identified by a small "2" in superscript next to a facility's name. A Wall Street Journal article on the CMS decision notes that "consumer groups and nursing home officials warn, however, that nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home in person." Evan Farr makes this same recommendation in his book, The Virginia Nursing Home Survival Guide, which contains a Nursing Home Evaluation Tool to help consumers compare nursing homes during personal visits. You can also find this tool on our Web site by clicking here. The Journal article also highlights a free Web site MemberoftheFamily.net, that features easy-to-read, color-coded assessments of nursing homes nationwide. Return to Top
Evan Farr in the News Evan H. Farr Selected for Inclusion in DC Super Lawyers The Farr Law Firm is pleased to announce that Evan H. Farr has been selected for inclusion in Washington, DC Super Lawyers 2008. Super Lawyers names Virginia's top 5% of lawyers as chosen by peer evaluation and through the independent research of Law & Politics magazine. To select the top 5% of Washington, DC lawyers, Law & Politics mails ballots to active lawyers, conducted an independent candidate search and evaluation, and conducted an peer evaluation by practice area. The selection of Super Lawyers is a process designed to identify lawyers who have attained the highest degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. In December 2006, Key Professional Media, Inc. hired Global Strategy Group (GSG), one of the nation's leading market research and consulting firms, to provide an independent assessment of the Super Lawyers selection process. The GSG report concluded that the process is scientific and objective. It stated: "the broad range of sources used to obtain a large and representative nominee pool, the compreh.ensive data search on each candidate, the protocols used to evaluate nominees, the expert panel system, and the meticulous checks and balances built into the process … leave little to chance or idiosyncratic influence." No other legal publisher goes through the unique multi-step process that Super Lawyers employs to find evidence of peer recognition and professional achievement. The entire selection process can be viewed at the Super Lawyers Web site. Return to Top
About the Firm Evan H. Farr, CELA, CEA, author of The Virginia Nursing Home Survival Guide (available at Amazon.com), has been in private practice in Fairfax since 1987, and is the only attorney in Virginia who is both a Certified Elder Law Attorney and a Certified Estate Advisor.* Since 2007, Evan has been named by Virginia Super Lawyers Magazine as one of the top attorneys in Virginia, and in 2008 Evan was named by Washington, DC Super Lawyers Magazine as one of the top attorneys in DC. The Super Lawyers designation is bestowed upon the top 5% of lawyers in each state as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics. The Farr Law Firm is an Elder Law and Estate Planning firm dedicated to helping protect seniors and their families. In addition to traditional estate planning (Wills, Living Trusts, Financial and Medical Powers of Attorney, etc.) for clients of all ages and administration of trusts and estates, we help our elderly clients with issues involving long-term care. We help clients find, get, and pay for the best possible long-term care; if a nursing home is the only option, we help clients find and get the best possible care while preserving and protecting their assets, including their homes, from the forced liquidation that is typically required in connection with entry into a nursing home. When needed, we complete the complex documents required for entry into a nursing home and for Medicaid. *Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation and Certified as an Estate Advisor by the National Association of Financial & Estate Planning. Virginia has no procedure for approving certifying organizations. Return to Top |
