Dinuba Healthcare

The primary reason this facility received a decent overall score is its impeccable inspections in recent years. We gave it one of our higher scores in that category, with an A-. This is a much better grade than the place's overall score, which was decent but not in the elite range. Inspection ratings weigh a host of factors found on a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher grades in this area typically have few of these severe deficiencies. While this nursing home had a few minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G through L. This means that CMS didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A couple of minor deficiencies shouldn't lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

This nursing home's second best area was long-term care. We awarded it a B- in this category. This is basically a middle of the road grade in this area. In determining our long-term care ratings, we look at the facility's ability to maintain its permanent residents' health and quality of life. In addition to considering the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. Thankfully, this nursing home administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is an above average datapoint. Lastly, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

Another strength of this nursing home is its favorable grade in nursing. We awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with a score of D. In computing a nursing home's nursing score, we consider the quantity of hours nurses commit to patients as well as the levels of training of the nurses. With only 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient per day, this facility's nurse staffing levels were quite a bit below the national average. Lastly, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing ratings. This place fared well in the area of avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls.

This nursing home's least impressive category was short-term care, which is the final area we assessed. Sadly, it received an F in this category. Even with a few solid scores in other categories, this grade is still of a concern so we would like to to make a note of it. Our short-term care ratings are vital for people needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually utilizes higher levels of skilled nursing. Skilled nursing means a wide spectrum of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, as well as other types of therapy. Not surprisingly, we found that this nursing home provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. The final metric we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients that ultimately returned home from the nursing home. This facility struggled quite a bit in this metric as well, with just 5.4 percent of its residents returning home. Unfortunately, this was quite a bit below the national average.