Heritage Care Center

To pair with its impressive overall grade, we gave this nursing home an A- for our nursing rating. Our nursing rating is based on the nursing home's nurse staffing levels. We factor in both the levels of licensure of those nurses and the amount of time spent with patients. This facility provides an incredible 4.5 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. Very few nursing homes provide this quantity of nursing care to their patients. Out of this total, many of the hours were provided by registered nurses, which is one of the more highly trained levels of nurses. On top of providing high levels of nursing care, this place also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we looked at. With less than 5 percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it fared as well as any place the nation in this category.

Adding to its impressive category grades, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A- for our inspections rating. Our inspection ratings weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with better grades in this category typically have very few severe deficiencies. This place received 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This means that the inspectors did not consider any of these deficiencies an immediate risk to patient health or safety. Remember that deficiency-free inspections are rare in this industry.

Turning to the next category, this nursing home also earned a grade of B+ for its short-term care rating. This is an above average score in this category. Our short-term care ratings are thought to be more important for patients in need of rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation generally utilizes additional highly-skilled nursing services. This includes not just nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. Finally, we considered the number of patients who returned to the community from this nursing home. This place outperformed the majority of nursing homes in the country in this area with 54.2 percent of its residents returning home. This is a higher rate than most nursing homes.

The next category we rated was long-term care, in which this facility received a B. This facility did not turn out to have any weak areas. When facilities receive this kind of score in this category it is usually a good sign for resident care and suggests that the place is well-staffed with nurses aids. In addition to very favorable nursing hour statistics, this nursing home's vaccination records is as good as it gets as well. In fact, this nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia. This combination proved to be effective as this nursing home was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.