Heritage Estates

To pair with its favorable overall grade, we gave this facility an A+ for inspections. Our inspection ratings weigh a host of factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher grades in this area generally have few severe deficiencies. Amazingly, this was one of the few nursing homes in the country that had no deficiencies whatsoever on its inspection report. This is very impressive. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

In addition, this facility was given elite marks in the category of long-term care. Consequently, it was given one of our highest scores in that area with a score of A+. Nursing homes that excel in this category typically provide residents with more supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. One of the statistics we considered on top of nursing hours was vaccines. This facility administered the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. This is a reliable method to avoid negative health outcomes for the aged 65 and up population. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. There are a number of subcategories included in this category. Many of the factors relate to staffing levels. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

In the last category we scored, this nursing home received an impressive grade grade of B+ in our short-term care category. With this grade, the facility rounded out an elite profile. In calculating our short-term care grades, we look at the facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other licensed professionals. This area is frequently a useful assessment of the nursing home's rehabilitation services. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last measure we considered in this category is the percentage of patients who ultimately returned home from the facility. We found that 4.3 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.