Browns Valley Health Center

On top of earning a strong overall grade, this facility also earned excellent government inspections in recent years. We gave it one of our highest scores in that category, with an A. Inspection ratings account for a host of factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this category tend to have very few of these severe deficiencies. This place received 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none were considered to be severe deficiencies. This means that CMS did not deem any of these deficiencies to pose an imminent risk to patient health or safety. We should point out that deficiency-free inspection reports are uncommon in the industry.

To complement its strong performance in other areas, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our inspections rating. When calculating a facility's nursing rating, we look at the amount of time nurses are seeing patients as well as the skill levels of those nurses. This nursing home averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place Minnesota in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by having a protocol of turning patients more often.

The next area we analyzed was short-term care. Contributing to its impressive profile, this facility also performed well in that category. In fact, it received a of A- for the category. In the category of short-term care, we seek to qualify measures of a facility's rehabilitation. We analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses and various therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the information this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the number of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 0 percent of this facility's patients returned home.

In our final area, this nursing home also received a first-rate long-term care score, with a grade of B+. This wrapped up a very strong profile. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are kept in good health. After considering the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is significantly higher than the majority of nursing homes. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.