Afton Care Center
508 West Pearl, Afton IA 50830 · (641) 347-8416 · 59.76% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Nov 1, 2019 · By Nick Reese
Afton Care Center is located in Afton, Iowa. We gave this facility an A overall grade, ranking it in the top fifth of all nursing homes in the nation. We really couldn't find many negative things to say about this nursing home. Its scores are just impeccable. One of the best aspects of this nursing home's remarkable profile is its long-term care rating. We discuss long-term care in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 43 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
We also found that this facility excelled in our long-term care rating. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. Nursing homes that do well in this category typically provide patients with more supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. In addition to assessing the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is very impressive. Pneumonia is too frequently a life threatening health condition for nursing home patients so we prefer when a facility does not leave this to chance. The last datapoint we looked at was its hospitalization rate. We found that this nursing home had 2.1 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days.
Facility Inspections
Adding to this facility's impressive resume, we awarded this facility an A for inspections. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating these inspection ratings. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some of these end up being relatively minor. Although this nursing home had a few deficiencies on its inspection report, none of them were serious based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
To complement its strong performance in other areas, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our inspections rating. The nursing rating assesses a handful of factors, many of which are tied to nursing hours. This nursing home provides 3.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at certain nursing quality-based metrics in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these metrics as predictive measures of the quality of nursing care being provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Short-term Care Quality
The last area we scored turned out to be this facility's weakest category. However, even in its weakest link we still gave it a decent grade of B- for short-term care. In determining these short-term care ratings, we analyze the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The purpose is to devise a scale for sizing up the rehabilitation services of various facilities. One of this nursing home's strengths is registered nurse hours. We found that it offers more care from registered nurses to its residents than most facilities. Finally, we looked at the number of residents who ultimately were able to return home from this facility. We found that 30.7 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home. This figure was actually below the national average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Afton Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of patients who suffered from a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care . Pressure ulcers, which are also referred to as bed sores, are routinely caused by patients not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term care patients who had a fall which resulted in serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls could be an indication of lower levels of patient supervision.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of patients that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are linked to inadequate hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This metric indicates the percent of long-term patients who are given antipsychotic drugs. High levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior in scenarios where such medications aren't medically required. However, some nursing homes need to rely on these medications due to having more residents suffering from dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percent of long-term residents taking antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percent of long-term residents exhibiting symptoms of depression. Many in the industry argue that this is a reliable measure of quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percentage of residents that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be standard at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This indicates the percent of residents that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's could be a sign of the decline of a patient's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term patients that were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care. Minimizing hospitalizations is critical to preserving the physical health of patients.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better