Heritage of Huntington

To go along with its strong overall grade, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A+ for our inspections rating. Our inspection ratings are based on many pieces of information found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places that excel in this category have very few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these places generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. While this nursing home had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

On the list of its many impressive grades, this facility received a top-shelf short-term care score. In fact, it received a score of A in that category. Our short-term care grades are arguably more critical for residents needing rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation usually mandates higher levels of skilled nursing services. This means not just nursing services, but also physical and occupational therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. However, based on the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last metric we considered in this area is the percentage of patients that were able to return home from the facility. We found that 5.3 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Building on its high-end resume, this facility also was given a dominant long-term care score, with a score of A. Facilities that excel in this category tend to be well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to patients. In addition to assessing the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping residents out of the hospital. Lastly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

Switching gears to the fourth category, this facility also performed admirably in our nursing category. In fact, we awarded it an A- for that category. This finalized a straight A profile. In determining our nursing scores, we weigh both staffing levels and the skill levels of the nurses. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at some quality-based measures in this category. This place fared well in some of the quality-based metrics we looked at. For example, in terms of the number of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, this facility performed better than the national average. This is generally an indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided with better nursing care.