Kimes Nursing & Rehab Center

In addition to performing well in its overall grade, this facility received an excellent inspection report. Consequently, we gave it one of our highest grades in that area with an A. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating these inspection ratings. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some of these end up being relatively minor. This place was hit with 3 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 the government inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies to be an immediate threat to resident health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This nursing home also received a first-rate long-term care grade. In fact, this is this facility's second best category grade. In that category, we awarded this facility a grade of A-. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are well cared for. After we finished looking at the quantity of nursing care, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia can be a life or death health condition for nursing home residents so we prefer when a nursing home does not leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

The third area we graded was short-term care. This nursing home was awarded a favorable short-term care grade, with a grade of B+ in the area. In determining our short-term care ratings, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. Our objective is to formulate a scale for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different facilities. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the information they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final item we considered in this category is the percentage of residents that were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 5.4 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

The final area we rated was nursing. We gave this nursing home one of our more favorable scores in this area, with a grade of B. While this isn't as dominant as some of its other scores, it is still a perfectly acceptable score. When computing a facility's nursing grade, we consider the amount of time nurses spend with residents as well as the level of licensure of the nurses. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This nursing home performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can frequently be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.