Joseph Eddie Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center
926 Veterans Drive, Hanson KY 42413 · (270) 322-9087 · 56.02% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Joseph Eddie Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center is the sole option we found in Hanson, Kentucky. Sporting an overall grade of A-, this facility is ranked among the better nursing homes we assessed. In fact, we ranked this nursing home in the top 25 percent of all facilities in the country. If you look further down this page, you will see this facility's category ratings, which are also quite good.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 156 Beds
CCRC :
Government - State
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
In addition to being a first rate facility overall, this facility also performed well in our inspections category, where it earned an A+. Very few nursing homes fared this well in this category. Inspection grades account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this category usually have very few of these severe deficiencies. Unfortunately, we were not able to track down deficiency counts for this nursing home. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A- in our nursing category. Nursing ratings are mostly tied to a nursing home's nurse staffing. This nursing home provided 4.4 hours of nursing care per patient per day, which is among the higher 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 really impressed by these figures. In addition to looking at levels of nursing care, we also looked at a few quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these statistics as reliable indicators of the caliber of nursing care being provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Long-term Care Quality
The third area we analyzed was long-term care. Contributing to its elite resume, this nursing home also excelled in that area. In fact, we awarded it a grade of of A- in that area. Long-term care ratings in this range generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. After looking at the significant amount of nursing hours provided by this facility, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination statistics. This nursing home vaccinated 98.2808 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is much higher than most nursing homes. This combination proved to be effective as this place also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 1.14 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a significantly lower hospitalization rate than the majority of nursing homes.
Short-term Care Quality
The next area we rated was short-term care. In that area, we gave this nursing home a strong grade of B. With our short-term care score, we endeavor to craft a sound gauge for rehabilitation. In doing so, we analyze a nursing home's scope of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as respiratory therapy. One of this place's strengths is that it provides more than an hour of care per day from registered nurses per resident. This is the gold standard for this metric, as it's about 1.5 times higher than a typical place's level of registered nurse staffing. The final item we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents that ultimately returned home from the nursing home. We found that 14.2 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home rather than remaining at the nursing home permanently.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Joseph Eddie Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This figure indicates the percentage of long-term stay patients that have new or worsened pressure ulcers . We consider this statistic when determining our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of residents that suffered from a fall resulting in severe injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percent of patients that sustained a urinary tract infection. These infections may be associated with poorer hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay residents who were given antipsychotic drugs. Excessive reliance on these medications may mean a facility is using these drugs to subdue residents in situations where such medications aren't medically indicated. However, some nursing homes need to rely on these drugs due to an increased number of patients suffering from dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percent of patients who were prescribed antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are given to patients suffering from anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients who are exhibiting signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percent of residents who received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is the percent of patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may be a sign of the erosion of a resident's medical condition.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents that retained mobility levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
Measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
Measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term resident care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is a measure of the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better