Fair Oaks Rehab & Healthcare

While we graded this nursing home very poorly overall, it received a somewhat respectable nursing grade this year. We gave it a grade of B- in this category. The nursing grade includes several components, most of which are based on nursing hours. This place provides 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is a lower figure than we were hoping for. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality-based metrics. While this place got dinged a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it excelled in some of these quality metrics. With fewer than five percent of its patients experiencing pressure ulcers, it did well in this area. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as employing a policy of turning a patient at least once a day.

Surprisingly, we gave this nursing home a grade of B- for its short-term care grade, which really isn't too bad of a score. In calculating our short-term care ratings, we analyze the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. Our objective is to formulate a scale for sizing up the rehabilitation services of various nursing homes. In this nursing home's case, we were surprised to learn that it actually provides less registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than the average facility. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the number of residents that eventually returned home from the nursing home. We found that just 5.6 percent of this facility's residents returned home. Unfortunately, this was below the national average.

This nursing home really didn't perform terribly in inspections. We awarded them a C for that category. We believe that one of the most important factors in assessing an inspection report is deficiencies. In this regard, we especially look at the severity of the deficiencies. This nursing home had 6 deficiencies on its government inspection report, but none were category G through L deficiencies. This tells you that inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies to pose an imminent risk to resident health or safety. Lastly, this nursing home was cited by CMS for possible abuse or neglect. This is generally a really bad sign. We would never recommend this facility.

The next area we scored is long-term care. It received a lowly F for this category, which is a bottom of the barrel score. For residents looking for a permanent place to live rather than rehabilitation, long-term care is an important category. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients, which is higher than the average nursing home. Surprisingly, this facility also keeps its patients out of the hospital. It had just 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Sadly, a few of its other scores in this category were not as favorable as these.