Idaho State Veterans Home - Boise

Idaho State Veterans Home - Boise is located in Boise, Idaho, a city with a population of 235,657 people. Sporting an overall score of B+, this looks like a strong facility. Even in a city with 12 nursing homes, this one really stands out as a great choice. Scroll down to see this facility's category ratings, which are also strong. It would be hard to poke holes in this nursing home's profile.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility excelled in our nursing rating. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. Nursing ratings are based in large part on quantity of nursing care available. This nursing home provided 4.1 hours of nursing care per patient per day, which is among the highest totals in the country. A significant portion of those hours were provided by registered nurses, which are one of the more skilled levels of nurses. We are very impressed by both of these figures. On top of providing high levels of care, this nursing home was also above average in each of the major quality-based metrics we looked at in this category. For example, it performed well in the area of avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers. These areas are generally reliable indicators of the quality of nursing care a facility offers.

One of the other reasons we graded this facility so favorably is that it was awarded a strong short-term care grade. In fact, short-term care turned out to be its second best category grade. In that area, we gave this facility a grade of A-. In the category of short-term care, we strive to assess measures of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. We look at a facility's skilled nursing services, such as the ones performed by registered nurses and physical and occupational therapists. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. The last metric we considered in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return home. We found that 39 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.

Another strong feature for this facility is that it excelled in the area of inspections, with a B in that category. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in computing these inspection ratings. One key factor is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of deficiencies is arguably more important than the number of deficiencies, as some end up being relatively minor. 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.

The last category we scored is long-term care, where this facility was awarded a grade of B. This nursing home turned out to be very solid across the board. When nursing homes receive this type of score in long-term care it is typically a good sign for resident care and indicates that the nursing home is well-staffed with nurses and aids. On top of offering elite levels of nurse staffing, this facility provided the pneumonia vaccine to 97.5 percent of its residents. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents healthy. Finally, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.