Hickory Heights Health and Rehab

While this facility earned a decent overall rating, its inspections rating is notably better than its overall grade. Due to a strong government inspection report this year, it received a strong score in that area with a B+. Perhaps the most critical factor we look at in computing our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a facility's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes with better grades in this category typically dodged the more severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

Another one of this facility's more impressive category grades was in the area of long-term care. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of B+. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we turned to the facility's vaccination statistics. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is far higher than the average nursing home. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

This nursing home's nursing grade appears to be one of its better features. The facility received a grade of B- in this category. Our nursing score weighs quite a few factors, most of which are based on nursing hours. This particular nursing home provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This figure is significantly below the national average. Finally, our nursing scores also factor in quality-based measures, such as avoiding major falls. Despite not having the most impressive total nursing hours per resident, this place performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is often an indicator that a nursing home has quality controls in place. Some falls can be avoided if a nursing home supplies enough nurses to assist its residents.

This nursing home's least impressive category is short-term care, which is the last area we scored. For this area, we awarded this facility a grade of D. Our short-term care grades are considered to be more important for residents in need of a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally utilizes more skilled nursing services. This includes not only nursing services, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. It appears that this place was subpar in two of the key staffing metrics we focus on. It offered fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than most facilities. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 4.2 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these poor statistics sunk this facility's short-term care grade.