Egle Nursing Home

On top of performing well in its overall grade, this nursing home performed at an even higher level in the area of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in determining our inspection ratings. One critical factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the quantity of deficiencies, as some of these can be relatively insignificant. Fortunately, although this nursing home had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that CMS didn't deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This nursing home really excelled in the area of long-term care, where it received a score of A-. Few facilities performed more favorably in this category. When facilities receive a score in this range in this category it generally means it has plenty of staff and is a quality place to reside on a permanent basis. After considering the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is far higher than the average nursing home. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

In addition, this facility also received favorable nursing grades this year. In fact, we awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with a grade of B. Our nursing grade is largely associated with a nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This nursing home 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 often be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

The next area we looked at was short-term care, where this facility received a C. This actually proved to be this facility's weakest category. This is nevertheless a middle of the pack score. In determining these short-term care scores, we assess the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our goal is to create a barometer for comparing the rehabilitation services of different facilities. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last item we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that just 3.9 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.