Colonial Manor of Amana

In addition to being a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ health inspections in recent years. Its inspections were virtually flawless. These inspection grades 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. This facility was assessed 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This indicates that CMS did not consider any of these deficiencies to cause an immediate risk to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Contributing to its dominant profile, this facility also excelled in our long-term care category. In fact, it received a score of A for the category. Nursing homes that receive this type of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure residents are well cared for. One of the datapoints we considered in addition to nursing hours is vaccinations. This facility administered the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. This is a reliable method to minimize unnecessary hospitalizations for the elderly population. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

This facility also was superb in the area of short-term care, where it received a grade of A. Few facilities fared better in this area. In the area of short-term care, we attempt to evaluate measures of a facility's rehabilitation. We look at the facility's skilled nursing services, including the ones performed by registered nurses and various therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these skilled professionals. However, based on the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Lastly, we looked at the number of patients that returned home from this nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents returned home.

In the final category we analyzed, this nursing home received an impressive grade grade of A- in our nursing category. With this grade, the facility completed a straight A profile. The nursing score assesses many components, but the main one is the number of nurse hours per patient per week. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This place performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.