Heardmont Health and Rehabilitation

Although we were not high on this facility's overall performance, it did receive an impressive inspection report this year with few dings from the applicable government inspectors. As a result, it received one of our better grades in that area with a B+. Our inspection ratings account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. You should avoid places with a list of severe deficiencies flagged. Although this place had some deficiencies on its government inspection report, none were serious based on CMS' deficiency scale. A few minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.

One of the other reasons we graded this facility so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing grade. In fact, nursing turned out to be its second best category grade. In that area, we gave this facility an B-. We weighed the qualifications of nurses working for the facility, as well as the quantity of hours the nurses spent with residents, in calculating our grade in this category. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Lastly, we also assessed several nursing quality measures. While this place got docked a bit for nursing hours, it actually excelled in some of these quality metrics. With fewer than five percent of its patients sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed well in this statistic. This is often a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a protocol of turning residents even once per day.

This nursing home's second lowest score was short-term care, where it received a grade of just D in that category. This is a relatively poor grade. In computing our short-term care scores, we scrutinize a facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other highly trained professionals. This rating is typically a useful measure of the facility's rehabilitation services. Not surprisingly, we learned that this place provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average nursing home. The final metric we looked at in this area is the number of patients that returned home from the facility. This nursing home struggled quite a bit in this area as well, with just 0 percent of its patients returning home. This was well below the national average.

This facility's worst area was long-term care, which is the final area we assessed. In this category, we gave this facility a grade of D. For prospective residents seeking a permanent place to live rather than rehabilitation, long-term care grades are a key measure. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. Thankfully, this facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents, which is a very respectable statistic. Surprisingly, this facility also keeps its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days. Sadly, a few of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.