Delano Regional Medical Center

We also wanted to point out the fact that this nursing home has earned nearly flawless government inspections recently. We awarded them an A in this category. Inspection grades are based on items located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that score well in this category have few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these facilities should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. Amazingly, this was one of the few nursing homes in the country that had no deficiencies whatsoever on its inspection report. This is very impressive. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to draw your attention to the fact that this facility received a dominant grade of A in our long-term care area. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. Once we assessed the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination records. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is significantly higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

This nursing home also received a very impressive nursing grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of A-. In determining a facility's nursing score, we consider the quantity of hours nurses commit to residents and the level of licensure of those nurses. This nursing home provides 0 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality-based metrics and this nursing home excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving residents more frequently.

In the last area, we awarded this facility an A for its short-term care grade. This wrapped up a first-rate report card. In forming these short-term care grades, we assess the nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The objective is to devise a barometer for sizing up the rehabilitation services of various facilities. Unfortunately, we weren't able to locate registered nurse or physical therapy staffing data for this facility. The final datapoint we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents were able to return home.