Eastern Plumas Hospital- Portola Campus Dp/Snf

This nursing home received a strong overall grade as described above, but we especially wanted to point out its excellent nursing grade. We gave them an A in this category. In computing a nursing home's nursing score, we consider the amount of time nurses commit to residents and the skill levels of the nurses. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a place has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can many times be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

Another one of this nursing home's above average category grades came in the area of short-term care. We awarded them one of our more positive grades in that area, with a grade of B+. Our short-term care ratings are likely more meaningful for individuals requiring rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation typically requires higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. This includes not only nursing services, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other types of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last item we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients that were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

This nursing home also performed well in the area of inspections. It received a nearly flawless government inspection report this year. It received one of our best grades in that category with a grade of B+. Inspection grades account for several factors found on a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we consider is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this category typically have very few of these severe deficiencies. While this facility had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are labeled as categories G through L. This means 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 minor deficiencies aren't the end of the world.

The last area we graded is long-term care. This facility was given a very good long-term care grade in our assessment, with a grade of B. This facility really did not have any weak spots. When facilities receive this kind of score in long-term care it is typically a good sign for resident care and suggests that the place is well-staffed with nurses aids. One of the statistics we considered after nursing hours was vaccinations. This nursing home provided the pneumonia vaccine to 97.54902 percent of its patients. Vaccination is a reliable method to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations for the aged 65 and up population. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.