Tucker Wellness & Rehabilitation Center

The primary reason this ended up being a decent nursing home is that it received an elite inspection score. Its inspection score was far better than its overall grade. In our inspections category, we gave this facility an A-. These inspection grades weigh several factors, including deficiencies and substantiated complaints. You can find more information about each of these factors by reviewing 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 severe deficiencies. This means that CMS didn't deem any of the deficiencies to pose an immediate risk to resident safety or health. A few minor deficiencies should not stop you from considering a nursing home.

We also gave this facility a decent grade in the category of long-term care, with a B-. In determining our long-term care ratings, we size up the personal care offered to a facility's residents. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 99.681526 percent of its residents, which is higher than most nursing homes. This place was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

This facility's next best category was its nursing grade, where it received a grade of C. When computing our nursing ratings, we analyze both nursing hours and the levels of licensure of those nurses. This place provides 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This is a lower figure than we were hoping for. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this nursing home excelled in some of the quality measures we looked at. In fact, it scored well when it comes to minimizing its residents' major falls and pressure ulcers. Many consider these areas to be reliable indicators of the quality of nursing care. In some cases, the quality of nursing care is just as important as the quantity of hours of care provided.

This facility's least impressive category was short-term care, which is the final area we assessed. We gave it a lowly F for this area. Even with several decent grades in other categories, this score is still of a concern so we felt obligated to point it out. In determining our short-term care ratings, we look at the nursing home's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other highly trained professionals. This score is generally a meaningful measure of a nursing home's ability to rehabilitate patients. Not surprisingly, we found that this nursing home provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. Finally, we considered the number of residents that ultimately were able to return home from this facility. This facility didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 4.8 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.