Healthcare Center of Orange County

While we gave this facility a poor overall grade, we actually awarded it a somewhat respectable grade in the area of inspections, where it received a B-. This was better than its other categories. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in computing our inspection ratings. One critical factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies are quite minor. This nursing home was hit with 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This tells you that the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies to create an imminent threat to resident health or safety. A few minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

We awarded this facility a respectable grade in the area of nursing as well, with a grade of C. When computing a nursing home's nursing score, we assess the quantity of hours nurses are seeing residents and the level of skill of the nurses. This facility provided just 0.6 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality-based metrics. Although this nursing home got docked a bit for nursing hours per resident, it excelled in some of these quality measures. With fewer than five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it performed remarkably well in this subcategory. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as employing a system of moving residents more frequently.

This facility's third most favorable category ended up being its short-term care score, where it was given a C. In our short-term care category, we try to create a fair barometer for rehabilitation services. In this process, we assess the nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as speech therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this place provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. Finally, we considered the percentage of patients that ultimately returned home from this nursing home. We found that 4.3 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home. This figure was actually quite a bit below the national average.

The last area we rated is long-term care, was this facility's worst area. We gave this nursing home a D in that category. In a long-term care setting, the nursing home's primary objective is to maintain patients' quality of life and keep them safe. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients, which is better than most nursing homes. Surprisingly, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 0.03 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this nursing home has less hospitalizations than most nursing homes. Sadly, a few of its other scores in this category weren't as favorable as these.