Center at Lowry

One of the reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it earned a strong short-term care score. This turned out to be its best category. In that category, we gave this facility an A. In the area of short-term care, we seek to qualify indicators 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 facility has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. Finally, we considered the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 6.5 percent of this facility's residents returned home.

Compounding its impressive performance in other areas, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our long-term care rating. Long-term care ratings in this range generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. This nursing home impressed us in this category.

Adding to this facility's impressive resume, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A- for our inspections rating. Arguably the most critical factor we consider in computing our inspection ratings is deficiencies. These deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Nursing homes with better grades in this area most likely dodged the most severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. This particular nursing home received 2 deficiencies on its inspection report. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

The next area we looked at was nursing, where this nursing home was given a B. While this wound up being its poorest category grade, this is nevertheless a strong score. The nursing score consists of a handful of subcategories, most of which are associated with nursing hours. This nursing home provides 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics 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 Colorado in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving residents more frequently.