Grove of St Charles

This nursing home's best category score came in the area of nursing. In this category, we awarded this nursing home a B+. It actually outperformed most facilities in this category. Our nursing rating assesses the facility's level of nurse staffing. We factor in both the levels of skill of those nurses as well as the amount of time spent with residents. This particular nursing home provided 0.3 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 nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can frequently be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

This facility's second best category grade came in the area of government inspections. In that category, we gave this nursing home a B. It actually outperformed most facilities in this category. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating our inspection scores. One of those factors is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of deficiencies is arguably more important than the quantity of deficiencies, as some of these are relatively insignificant. While this place had a few deficiencies on its report, none were serious based on CMS' deficiency scale. A few minor deficiencies shouldn't lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

This nursing home's third most favorable area ended up being its short-term care grade, where it was awarded a grade of C. In calculating our short-term care ratings, we assess the nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other types of therapists. This score is considered to be a reliable measure of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. We were surprised to find that this nursing home was below average in the two key staffing areas we focus on. In fact, it provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other facilities. It is important to determine whether this is adversely impacting the quality of care. Lastly, we looked at the number of patients that were able to return home from this nursing home. We found that 4.2 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home. This figure was well below the national average.

Moving on to our next area, this nursing home received a C for long-term care, which we consider to be a respectable rating. In computing our long-term care ratings, we assess the assistance with daily living received by the nursing home's patients. After we finished looking at the quantity of nursing care, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination record. We were a bit alarmed this nursing home vaccinated only 82.83828 percent of its patients against pneumonia. On a more positive note, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.