Heritage Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center

While this nursing home's overall grade was rock bottom, it didn't perform as badly in the area of nursing. We awarded it a B- for that category. Our nursing grade analyzes the facility's level of nurse staffing. We factor in both the levels of licensure of those nurses as well as the amount of time spent with residents. This nursing home provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is a low total compared with most facilities. Finally, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics. Although this place got dinged a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in a few of these quality metrics. With fewer than five percent of its patients experiencing pressure ulcers, it performed well in this area. This is generally an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as having a system of moving a resident at least once a day.

This facility also didn't perform poorly in the category of short-term care. In fact, we awarded it a B- for that category, which wound up being another one of its more respectable grades. Short-term care ratings are vital for individuals requiring rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically requires higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. This includes a vast spectrum of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this facility provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other facilities. The more important thing is determining what effect this had on the quality of care. Lastly, we considered the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 5.4 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most nursing homes, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

Surprisingly, we gave this facility a grade of C for our long-term care score, which really isn't a bad grade. For prospective patients seeking a permanent residence rather than skilled nursing, long-term care is an important category. After looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is better than most nursing homes. Lastly, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0.03 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Moving on our final area of inspections, this nursing home received an F in this area. When a nursing home has this poor of an inspection score, you should expect some severe deficiencies on its inspection report. Severe deficiencies indicate a threat to the well being of residents. This particular facility was hit with 4 deficiencies by government inspectors. The only favorable thing we can say is that none of its deficiencies were in the categories that indicate that they posed a threat to resident health or safety. Lastly, this facility was flagged by CMS for possible abuse or neglect. We prefer to avoid facilities with this designation. Please do your best to find an alternative nursing home.