Timber Ridge at Talus

In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this nursing home received an A+ for nursing. Our nursing grade analyzes a handful of factors, many of which are tied to nursing hours. This nursing home averages 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also assessed some nursing quality measures in determining our nursing grades. This facility performed very well when it comes to avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

This nursing home has earned near flawless government inspections in recent years. We gave them an A in this area. Inspection grades account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher grades in this area usually have very few severe deficiencies. This facility was assessed 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This tells you that CMS did not deem any of these deficiencies an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to draw your attention to the fact that this facility received a top-shelf grade of A in our long-term care category. When facilities receive a grade in this range in this category it typically means it's well-staffed and is a quality place to live on a permanent basis. On top of looking at the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents healthy. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

The final area we analyzed is short-term care, where this facility was given an A. This rounded out a very favorable report card. Very few nursing homes earned an A- or better in in each area we assessed. Our short-term care ratings are considered to be more important for patients in need of a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually mandates higher levels of skilled nursing. This means not only nursing services, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. However, based on the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. Finally, we looked at the percentage of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.