Kern Valley Healthcare District Distinct Part Skilled Nursing Facility
6412 Laurel Ave, Lake Isabella CA 93240 · (760) 379-2681 · 71.89% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
With an address in Lake Isabella, California, Kern Valley Healthcare District Distinct Part Skilled Nursing Facility is the sole nursing home we were able to find in the city. This facility was given an F, which is just about as bad as it gets in our grading scheme. Based on our assessment, you'd be better off to avoid of this nursing home. Surprisingly, we were able to give this nursing home some positive feedback for our inspections category, which you can read more about below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 74 Beds
CCRC :
Government - Hospital district
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
Although we graded this place incredibly poorly overall, it actually received a relatively impressive inspection report this year. As a result, it earned one of our better grades in that area with a B+. Inspection scores account for a host of factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. You generally want to avoid facilities with too many severe deficiencies flagged. This nursing home was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that CMS didn't consider any of these deficiencies to cause an immediate risk to patient safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
One of the other reasons we rated this nursing home so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing score. In that category, we awarded this nursing home a grade of D. There are a number of criteria within this area. Many of these factors are tied to levels of nurse staffing. This nursing home averages 3.6 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which is below the national average. Unfortunately, this nursing home also had abysmal scores in several of the quality-based metrics to pair with its weak nursing hour totals. For starters, we looked at the percentage of patients sustaining pressure ulcers. This nursing home was at more than double the national average in this statistic. This is alarming when you consider that many pressure ulcers are believed to be preventable with better nursing care. This ended up sealing the facility's fate of earning a poor nursing rating.
Short-term Care Quality
Sadly, this facility only earned a D for its short-term care rating, which is not a score to write home about. Our short-term care scores are based in part on the facility's quantity of skilled skilled healthcare professionals. This includes a broad spectrum of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. Not surprisingly, we found that this nursing home provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. Lastly, we assessed the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that just 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.
Long-term Care Quality
The last area we looked at is long-term care, where this facility received a very poor grade in this category also. It received a lowly F for this category, which is obviously a major concern. In a long-term care environment, the primary goal is to keep patients healthy and safe. This is different than skilled nursing or short-term care where the goal is to rehabilitate residents. In addition to considering the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. Fortunately, this nursing home provided the vaccine to 96.38009 percent of its residents, which is a very solid total. Surprisingly, this facility also wasn't as bad as we expected at keeping its residents out of the hospital. While it had 1.98 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, its risk adjusted metric was not bad since it had more complicated patients.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Kern Valley Healthcare District Distinct Part Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of patients that sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered to be a measure of nursing care at a nursing home. Pressure ulcers, also known as bed sores, are routinely the result of residents not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percent of residents that suffered from a fall which caused serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This gauges the percentage of long-term care patients which have sustained UTI's. While more of these infections could reflect poorly on a facility's cleanliness, it is problematic to compare between facilities due to facilities having varying reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used appropriately. In some situations, increased usage of these drugs may suggest a facility is using these medications to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percentage of residents who were prescribed antianxiety medications. These drugs are typically prescribed to patients suffering from anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This datapoint measures the percentage of long-term stay patients who are demonstrating symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents who received the flu and pneumonia vaccines.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is the percentage of patients that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percent of patients that retained mobility levels over time. Preserving mobility is often a great sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better