Brookdale Carriage Club Providence

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. Inspection ratings take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies, substantiated complaints and federal fines. You can find more information about each of these items by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. While this place had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you CMS didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Remember that deficiency-free inspections are uncommon in this industry.

Among this nursing home's other achievements is its high-end short-term care score. It received one of our more favorable grades in that category, with a grade of A. Our short-term care ratings are meaningful for residents seeking rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically utilizes higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes a wide range of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. We weren't able to track down information about this nursing home's registered nurse or physical therapy staffing. The final metric we looked at in this area is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return home. It fared as well as just about any nursing home in North Carolina in this area with 73.8 percent of its residents returning home. For most facilities, less than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.

This facility received a very good nursing grade this year as well. It received one of our better scores in that category with a grade of B+. Our nursing score weighs quite a few datapoints, most of which are based on levels of nurse staffing. This facility provided 0 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this nursing home excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home North Carolina in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as by employing a system of turning a patient more often.

This nursing home's worst category is long-term care, which is the last area we looked at. In this area, we gave this nursing home a D. We wanted to draw your attention to this possible area of weakness, however, you shouldn't over-emphasize one category either. When facilities receive this type of grade in long-term care it is often a bad sign for resident care and it may indicate that the facility is not as well-staffed. One of the statistics we considered on top of nursing hours was vaccinations. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this nursing home submitted data regarding vaccinations. To our surprise, this place was actually able to limit hospitalizations. With only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this nursing home has fewer hospitalizations than most nursing homes. This was its best feature in this category.