Gundersen Harmony Care Center

On top of performing well overall, this facility also received nearly flawless government inspections. Consequently, it received one of our best scores in that category with an A+. Inspection grades weigh several factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher grades in this category usually have few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this facility had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones found in categories G through L. This tells you that CMS did not consider 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.

This top-shelf facility also performed remarkably in the area of long-term care, where it received a score of A+. Only a small group of facilities performed better in this category. Nursing homes that do well in long-term care typically are well-staffed and provide extensive hands on care to residents. After looking at the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we next considered the facility's vaccination statistics. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is much higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. Our nursing score weighs a number of factors. The most heavily weighted variable is the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this nursing home 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 avoided by offering better nursing care, such as by having a policy of turning patients at least once a day.

In the last area, this nursing home also was given a very strong short-term care rating, with an A-. This rounded out a very favorable profile. In the area of short-term care, we endeavor to qualify measures of a facility's rehabilitation services. We analyze a nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as the ones performed by registered nurses and physical, occupational and other therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. However, based on the information they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last statistic we considered in this area is the number of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents were able to return home.