Hickory Creek at Greensburg

In addition to performing well in its overall grade, this facility performed at an even higher level in the area of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A. Our inspection grades are based on many datapoints found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that excel in this area typically have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these facilities generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. While this place had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G through L. This tells you that the government inspectors did not consider 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.

This nursing home fared well in our long-term care category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A- for that area, which turns out to be one of our most impressive grades. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure residents are kept in good health. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients, which is far higher than most nursing homes. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

We also gave this nursing home a middle of the pack grade in the category of short-term care, where it received a B-. With our short-term care score, we try to forge a fair barometer for rehabilitation services. In this process, we analyze a facility's scope of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last datapoint we considered in this area is the percentage of patients who were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that just 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.

The final category we analyzed is nursing. In that category, we gave this facility a C. Nursing scores are based in large part on quality and quantity of nursing care. This place averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which is well below average. Finally, our nursing scores also factor in quality-based measures, such as preventing major falls. Despite not having the most impressive total nursing hours per resident, this nursing home performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is typically an indicator that a place has sufficient quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a nursing home supplies enough nurses aids to assist its patients.