Heardmont Health and Rehabilitation

While this nursing home's overall grade was not a highlight, it actually really excelled in the category of inspections. In fact, we awarded it an A- for that area, which is one of our best scores. Inspection scores weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. You should avoid nursing homes with a list of deficiencies flagged. Fortunately, although this facility had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that the government inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A couple minor deficiencies aren't the end of the world.

This facility's second best category is its long-term care grade, where it was given a grade of C. In determining our long-term care ratings, we assess the assistance with daily living offered to the facility's residents. After considering the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. We were pleased to learn that this nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia. This facility keeps its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

This nursing home actually received a decent grade in the area of nursing as well. We awarded it a grade of C for that category, which is not a bad score. The nursing grade weighs quite a few factors, many of which are based on nursing hours. This nursing home averages just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a very low figure. Lastly, our nursing scores also consider quality-based metrics, such as avoiding major falls. Despite not having the highest total nursing hours, this facility performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is often a good indicator that a nursing home has sufficient quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a nursing home supplies enough nurses to assist its patients.

The final category we scored was short-term care, proved to be this nursing home's least impressive category. We awarded this nursing home a D in that category. Short-term care grades are based on a facility's quantity of highly-skilled highly skilled professionals. This means a vast range of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, not to mention other types of therapy. Not surprisingly, we discovered that this place offers far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. The last statistic we assessed in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 0 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these subpar statistics doomed this nursing home's short-term care grade.