Apple Valley Center

On top of receiving a strong overall score, this nursing home performed even better in the area of inspections which is based on the facility's recent government inspections. We gave it an A- for this category, which is one of our best grades. Inspection ratings are tied to several pieces of information located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that excel in this category typically have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these facilities generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

In addition, this nursing home also was awarded favorable short-term care grades this year. Indeed, we gave it one of our stronger scores in that category, with a grade of B+. Our short-term care scores are based on the facility's quantity of skilled highly skilled professionals. This includes a wide scope of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, in addition to other forms of therapy. It does not look like this facility provided data regarding its registered nurse or physical therapy staffing. The final metric we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients that were able to return home from the facility. We found that 6.2 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

This facility received a very good nursing grade this year as well. It received one of our better scores in that category with a grade of B+. Our nursing score is primarily tied to the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This facility provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can often be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

The last category we scored was this facility's worst category. However, even in its weakest link we still gave it a respectable grade of B- in long-term care. Long-term care grades assess a facility's assistance with daily living instead of the highly skilled nursing and healthcare services that are critical to a skilled nursing facility. After looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination statistics. This nursing home vaccinated 98.87324 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. This facility keeps its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.