Hickory Falls Health and Rehabilitation
100 Sunset Street, Granite Falls NC 28630 · (828) 396-2387 · 94.91% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Hickory Falls Health and Rehabilitation is an average-sized nursing home located in Granite Falls, North Carolina. With an overall grade of B+, this is a very good nursing home. This place truly has plenty of good features. We were also pleased to find that this facility did not have any bad scores in any of the major categories. Additional information about its category grades can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 120 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
One of the many reasons this turned out to be a quality nursing home is that it received an A+ inspection grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing these inspection grades. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of deficiencies is arguably more important than the number of deficiencies, as some of these end up being quite insignificant. This nursing home received 2 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This means that CMS didn't deem any of these deficiencies to cause an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
Contributing to this facility's list of strengths, it also was awarded a high-end long-term care grade. We awarded them an elite grade of A- in this area. Facilities that receive this type of score in long-term care tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure patients are kept in good health. One of the factors we considered after nursing hours was vaccines. This nursing home provided the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. This is a proven method to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations for the senior population. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.42 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this nursing home had less hospitalizations than most nursing homes.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility also was given a strong short-term care grade. In fact, we gave it an above average grade of B in this category. Our short-term care scores are arguably more meaningful for patients needing rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation typically mandates higher levels of skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes not only nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, we found that this nursing home provided respectable levels of physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident. Finally, we considered the percentage of residents who who were able to eventually return home from this nursing home. This place performed as well as just about any facility in the nation with 61 percent of its residents returning home.
Nurse Quality
The final category we graded is nursing, where this nursing home was given a grade of B-. This actually proved to be this nursing home's worst category. This is still not a bad grade. Our nursing rating assesses the facility's level of nurse staffing. We weigh both the levels of training of the nurses as well as the amount of time spent with patients. This place provided just 3.3 hours of nursing care per resident each day. This is a low total compared to most facilities. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this facility surprisingly fared better in some of the quality measures we assessed. In fact, it scored well when it comes to avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Hickory Falls Health and Rehabilitation Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This statistic is an indication of the percentage of long-term patients who are suffering from pressure ulcers . We consider this statistic when determining our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of patients who have had a fall leading to major injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percentage of residents that sustained a urinary tract infection. UTI's are considered to be a measure of the quality of nursing care . UTI's are often linked to a facility with lower levels of hygiene. Nevertheless, this metric may also be skewed for certain facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for UTI's.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percent of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many patients, it is important to make sure these medications are being used appropriately. In limited situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric gauges the percent of long-term care patients which are prescribed antianxiety drugs. These medications are generally used to treat residents experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percent of patients exhibiting signs of depression. Increased rates of depression may reveal a less hospitable environment.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that have received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living may indicate the deterioration of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percentage of patients who maintained mobility over time. Retaining mobility can be a great sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care. Avoiding hospitalizations is key to the physical health of residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term resident care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is generally a correlation between keeping patients out of the emergency room and the overall quality of nursing home care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of short-term care residents who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better