Courtyard Care Center

While this nursing home's overall grade was not bad, it really excelled in the category of inspections. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A- for that category, which is one of our best scores. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing these inspection grades. One of those factors is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies can be quite minor. While this facility had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A couple of minor deficiencies shouldn't stop you from considering a nursing home.

We also gave this facility a middle of the pack grade in the area of long-term care, with a grade of B-. In calculating our long-term care grades, we analyze the nursing home's ability to maintain its permanent residents' health and quality of life. On top of looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients, which is higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. This facility also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0.03 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

We also gave this nursing home a decent score in the category of nursing care, with a grade of C. We assessed the qualifications of nurses employed by the nursing home, as well as the number of hours those nurses spent with residents, in calculating our grade in this area. This nursing home averages just 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient each day, which is not an impressive total. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures. Although this facility got docked a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in some of these quality-based measures. With fewer than five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it did well in this subcategory. This is typically an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as by having a policy of turning a resident even once per day.

The final category we assessed was short-term care, proved to be this facility's least impressive area. We awarded this facility a grade of D in that category. In computing these short-term care grades, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The purpose is to devise a scale for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different facilities. Considering its score in this category, we weren't stunned to discover that this place was well below average in terms of its number of physical therapy and registered nurse hours provided to its residents based on the metrics we looked at. The last metric we assessed 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 4.5 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these poor metrics doomed this facility's short-term care score.