Athens Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center

In addition to performing well in its overall grade, this facility performed at an even higher level in the area of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating our inspection ratings. One critical factor is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more meaningful than the quantity of deficiencies, as some deficiencies can be relatively minor. This facility was hit with 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none were considered to be severe. This tells you that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies to cause an immediate risk to resident safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Additionally, this facility also was given favorable long-term care scores in our assessment. Indeed, we awarded them one of our more favorable grades in that area, with a score of B+. When nursing homes receive this type of grade in this category it is usually a good sign for patient care and indicates that the facility is well-staffed with nurses aids. In addition to considering the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home gave the vaccine to 96.850395 percent of its residents, which is very impressive. Pneumonia can be a dangerous illness for nursing home patients so we strongly prefer when a facility does not take any chances. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

The next highest grade we gave this nursing home came in the category of nursing, where we gave it a grade of B-. This wasn't quite as good as some of its other scores, but a grade in this range is not the end of the world. When computing our nursing ratings, we factor in both staffing levels and the training levels of the nurses. This particular nursing home provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient daily. This figure is far below the national average. Lastly, our nursing scores also consider quality-based measures, such as avoiding major falls. Despite not having the highest total nursing hours per resident, this facility performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is generally a reliable indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Some falls can be avoided if a facility supplies enough nurses aids to assist its residents.

The final category we looked at was short-term care. This nursing home was awarded a B- for the category. In our short-term care category, we attempt to craft a meaningful gauge for rehabilitation. In doing so, we analyze a facility's scope of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. We were not able to track down registered nurse or physical therapy staffing data for this place. Lastly, we looked at the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most facilities, closer to half of their residents are able to return home so this figure is below average.