Bennett Hills Center

Located in Gooding, Idaho, Bennett Hills Center is the only facility we identified in the city. With an overall rating of A, this is without a doubt a phenomenal facility. We were so impressed with this nursing home that we ranked it in the top fifth of all facilities in the nation. As you will find below, this facility performed equally well in our category grades. In fact, we gave it straight A's!

On top of faring well overall, this nursing home also earned a nearly flawless inspection report. Therefore, it earned one of our highest scores in that category with an A+. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in calculating our inspection grades. One of those factors is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the quantity of deficiencies, as some are relatively minor. While this nursing home had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you that CMS didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

On the list of its many high-end grades, this facility was given first-rate short-term care score. In fact, it received a score of A in that area. In the area of short-term care, we endeavor to evaluate indicators of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. We assess a nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses and physical therapists. This nursing home is above average in terms of both its quantity of physical therapy and registered nurse hours provided to its patients. The final measure we assessed in this area is the percentage of patients who ultimately returned home from the facility. We found that it performed as well as just about any nursing home in Idaho in this area with 60.4 percent of its residents returning home. Unfortunately, at most nursing homes, fewer than half of their short-stay residents are able to return home.

The next category we assessed was long-term care. Contributing to its strong resume, this nursing home also excelled in that category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of of A- for that category. Nursing homes that do well in long-term care typically are well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to residents. In addition to providing very favorable levels of nursing care, this facility administered the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents out of the hospital. Finally, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0.36 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

Turning to the last category, this facility also performed admirably in the nursing category. In fact, we awarded it an A- in this area. This wrapped up a straight A report card. When determining our nursing grades, we assess both nursing hours and the training levels of those nurses. This nursing home boasts a really impressive 4.2 hours of nursing care per resident each day, of which a significant portion was provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly highly trained levels of nurses. On top of offering impressive levels of nursing care, this place also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we assessed. With below five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place Idaho in this category. This is typically a good indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Many pressure ulcers could be avoided by offering better nursing care and a policy of turning patients at least once a day.