Hales Corners Care Center

In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this facility also received an excellent nursing score, with a grade of A. In computing our nursing grades, we factor in both nursing hours and the training levels of those nurses. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures 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 nursing home the state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by employing a protocol of turning patients more frequently.

This nursing home also was dominant in the category of short-term care, where we gave it a score of A-. Few nursing homes fared better in this category. In crafting these short-term care grades, we assess the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our objective is to create a measure for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different facilities. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final item we assessed in this area is the number of residents that eventually returned home from the nursing home. We found that 4.7 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Racking up yet another strong category grade, this facility also excelled in inspections, where it earned an A-. Few facilities fared better in this category. Arguably the most significant factor we consider in calculating our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Facilities with higher grades in this category typically dodged the most severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

Turning to the final area, this facility also performed admirably in our long-term care category. In fact, we awarded it a B+ for that area. This completed a very impressive report card. Nursing homes that do well in this category typically provide patients with better supervision and stay on top of routine medical care. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Lastly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.