Hunters Creek Nursing and Rehab Center

This facility received a quality overall grade as described above, but we especially wanted to emphasize its nearly flawless government inspections in recent years. We awarded it an A+ in this category. Arguably the most important factor we consider in calculating our inspection ratings is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a facility's recent inspection reports. Places with higher scores in this area most likely dodged the more severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. While this facility had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G through L. This means the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Remember that deficiency-free inspection reports are uncommon in the industry.

This nursing home also was given a favorable long-term care grade. Indeed, we awarded it an above average grade of B in this category. When nursing homes receive this type of grade in long-term care it is a good sign for resident care and indicates that the nursing home is well-staffed with nurses aids. Once we assessed the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is significantly higher than most nursing homes. Finally, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

This facility's next most favorable category was its short-term care score, where it was given a B-. With our short-term care grade, we try to craft a meaningful measure for rehabilitation services. In doing so, we analyze a facility's offerings of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as speech therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. However, according to the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final metric we assessed in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 4.5 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home, which is actually below average.

The last category we graded was nursing. In that category, we gave this facility a grade of B-. The nursing grade includes several data points, however, the paramount consideration is the quantity of nurse hours spent with patients. This facility provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Finally, our nursing scores also consider quality-based measures, such as preventing major falls. Despite not having the highest total nursing hours, this nursing home actually performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is typically a good indicator that a facility has sufficient quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a nursing home provides enough nurses aids to assist its patients.