Diplomat Healthcare

While we were not high on this nursing home's overall grade, it actually received a very impressive inspection report this year. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it earned one of our best grades in that category with an A-. These inspection scores take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these items by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This nursing home received 5 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 the government inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies to pose an imminent threat to resident safety or health. A few minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

One of this facility's higher category grades came in the area of long-term care. This ended up being its second most respectable category. In that area, we awarded this nursing home a C. In calculating our long-term care ratings, we scrutinize the personal care received by a nursing home's patients. After assessing the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination records. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is better than the majority of nursing homes. This facility also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

We awarded this facility a respectable grade in the area of nursing as well, with a grade of C. There are several subcategories included in this category. Many of the factors are tied to staffing levels. This nursing home averages just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which is a very low figure. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this place fared better in some of the quality-based metrics we looked at. In fact, it performed well when it comes to avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers. Many consider these areas to be reliable measures of the quality of nursing care. In many cases, the quality of nursing care is every bit as important as the number of hours of care provided.

The next area we analyzed is short-term care, is this nursing home's worst area. We gave this facility a D in that area. In determining our short-term care ratings, we scrutinize a facility's levels of highly skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other licensed professionals. This rating is typically a meaningful measure of the nursing home's rehabilitation services. Not surprisingly, we found that this nursing home provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of patients who who were able to eventually return home from this facility. This facility didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.