Accura Healthcare of Cresco

To go along with its strong overall grade, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A+ for our nursing grade. In computing our nursing grades, we assess both nursing hours and the training levels of the nurses. This nursing home averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any facility the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a protocol of moving patients at least once a day.

This facility really excelled in the category of long-term care, where we gave it a grade of A+. Very few nursing homes performed better in this category. When nursing homes receive this kind of grade in long-term care it is a good sign for resident care and indicates that the place is well-staffed with nurses aids. One of the datapoints we considered in addition to nursing hours is vaccinations. This nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. This is a great way to avoid unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations for the senior population. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

This facility truly excelled in the area of short-term care, where it received a score of A-. Only a select group of nursing homes performed more favorably in this area. In determining our short-term care grades, we assess the nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The goal is to devise a scale for comparing the rehabilitation services of various facilities. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not all facilities employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final statistic we looked at in this category is the percentage of residents who ultimately returned home from the facility. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Finally, turning to our inspection category, we gave this facility a C. Our inspection rating is based on the facility's inspection reports. Although this is not a bad score, it is this nursing home's weakest link. We would argue that one of the most important factors in assessing an inspection report is deficiencies. In this regard, we especially focus on the severity of the deficiencies. This nursing home was assessed 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to find that none were in categories G through L. This means that this facility avoided the more ominous classes of deficiencies. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.