Den-Mar Health and Rehabilitation Center

In addition to a phenomenal overall grade, this facility also received A+ nursing grade. In calculating our nursing ratings, we assess both nursing hours and the levels of licensure of the nurses. This particular nursing home provided 1 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures 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 the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving a resident more often.

This nursing home also was dominant in the category of long-term care, where we awarded it a score of A. Not many facilities performed better in this category. Long-term care grades in this range generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. Once we assessed the quantity of nursing care, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 49.57265 percent of its residents for pneumonia. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

We also wanted to alert you to the fact that this facility was awarded a high-end grade of A in our short-term care category. In calculating our short-term care ratings, we analyze a nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This category is generally a meaningful measure of the facility's ability to rehabilitate patients. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility 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 last measure we considered in this category is the number of patients that who were able to eventually return home from the nursing home. We found that 5.2 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Lastly, this nursing home also earned a virtually flawless government inspection. As a result, it earned one of our highest grades in that category with an impressive grade of A-. With this impressive grade, this place is one of the few nursing homes in Massachusetts to earn straight A's. Our inspection ratings account for several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher grades in this area usually have few of these severe deficiencies. This nursing home was assessed 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This indicates that CMS didn't consider any of these deficiencies to pose an immediate threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.