Aurora Nursing Center

Although we graded this nursing home incredibly poorly overall, it received a decent short-term care score this year. We gave it a C in that area. Short-term care scores are based in part on a facility's quantity of skilled nursing services. This means a vast range of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this place provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other facilities. Finally, we considered the percentage of patients that who were able to eventually return home from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home. This figure was actually well below average.

As it turns out, its inspection reports were not the source of this nursing home's rock bottom overall grade. In fact, it earned a C in this category. Our inspection scores weigh several factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. This facility was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to find that none were in any of the categories labeled G through L. This means that the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies to pose an imminent threat to resident safety or health. Unfortunately, we also need to draw your attention to the fact that this facility received significant government fines in recent years.

The third area we analyzed was long-term care, where this nursing home was given an F. If you are looking for services other than short-term rehabilitation, you should take a close look at each facility's long-term care grades. On top of considering the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. Surprisingly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility has less hospitalizations than many nursing homes. Sadly, a few of its other scores in this category were not as favorable as these.

The final area we assessed was nursing. We gave it an abysmal F for this area, which is a rock bottom score. Nursing scores are heavily correlated with quality and quantity of nursing care. This nursing home averaged a meager 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. In addition to ranking below average in nursing hours per resident, this place also had poor marks in the quality-based metrics we looked at in determining our nursing ratings. We looked at the percentage of residents experiencing pressure ulcers and major falls. This facility was at approximately 150 percent of the national average in both of these metrics. This is likely a bad sign when you consider that many falls and bed sores are preventable with better nursing care. These scores helped pull down this facility's nursing rating significantly.