Carechoice of Boerne

One of the reasons this turned out to be a strong nursing home is that it received an impressive inspection grade. Inspections turned out to be its best category grade. In that category, we awarded it an A. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better scores in this category usually have few severe deficiencies. This facility was assessed 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors did not consider any of these deficiencies to create an immediate risk to resident safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This nursing home is also strong in the category of long-term care, where it was awarded a grade of B+. It outpaced most nursing homes in this category. Nursing homes that receive this type of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure residents are kept in good health. After considering the volume of nursing care, we then looked at the facility's vaccination records. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is very impressive. Pneumonia tragically can be a life threatening health condition for nursing home residents so we like it when a facility does not roll the dice on this issue. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

The next highest grade we gave this nursing home came in the category of nursing, where we gave it a grade of B-. This wasn't quite as good as some of its other scores, but a grade in this range is not the end of the world. Our nursing grade is mostly tied to the facility's level of nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a much lower figure than we are used to seeing. Lastly, we also assessed several nursing quality measures. While this place got dinged a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in a few of these quality measures. With fewer than five percent of its residents experiencing pressure ulcers, it fared very well in this area. This is typically an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving a resident more frequently.

Our last category is short-term care, in which we awarded this facility a B- in that area. In the area of short-term care, we endeavor to evaluate indicators of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. We analyze a nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as the ones performed by registered nurses and physical, occupational and other therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final statistic we looked at in this area is the number of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home, which is actually below average.