Aspirus Care & Rehab-Medford

In addition to being a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ health inspections in recent years. Its inspections were virtually flawless. Our inspection grades are based on pieces of information located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places that excel in this area tend to have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these nursing homes should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. Fortunately, although this nursing home had a few minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are labeled as categories G through L. This tells you that the government inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This facility also received an A+ for its long-term care score. When facilities receive a grade in this range in long-term care it typically means it's well-staffed and is an overall good place to live on a permanent basis. On top of looking at the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents out of the hospital. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

This nursing home also received an A+ nursing grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+ category grades. The nursing score consists of several subcategories, many of which are based on quantities of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This place 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 frequently be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

In the last category, we awarded this facility a grade of A+ for our short-term care score. This topped off a very strong report card. In determining these short-term care scores, we assess the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The goal is to devise a tool for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last item we assessed in this area is the number of patients who ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 5.2 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.