Good Samaritan Society - Howard Lake

One of the reasons this ended up being a quality nursing home is it earned an A+ in our inspections category. This is just about as good as it gets in this very important category. Inspection scores are tied to datapoints located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that receive favorable grades in this area have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these nursing homes should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. While this facility had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Adding to its elite profile, this nursing home also performed well in our short-term care category. In fact, it received a grade of A for the category. In forming our short-term care ratings, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The objective is to devise a barometer for comparing the rehabilitation services of various facilities. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. 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 measure we looked at in this area is the percentage of patients who who were able to eventually return home from the nursing home. We found that 6.5 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Adding to its impressive resume, this nursing home also excelled in our nursing category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A- for that category. The nursing score is based on several subcategories, most of which are based on levels of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this place excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place the country in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as by having a system of turning a patient more often.

Moving on to our last area, this nursing home also performed admirably in the long-term care category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A- for this category. This rounded out a straight A profile. Facilities that excel in long-term care tend to be well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to residents. After considering the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents healthy. Finally, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.