Lakewood Health System

In addition to being a great nursing home overall, it also received A+ health inspections recently. Its inspections were nearly perfect. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in computing our inspection scores. One key factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more important than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies end up being relatively minor. We were not able to find deficiency counts for this nursing home. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

On the list of its many dominant scores, this facility received a strong short-term care grade. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A in this category. Our short-term care grades are arguably most meaningful for residents requiring rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually mandates additional skilled nursing. This means not merely nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other types of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not all facilities employs these types of nurses. However, according to the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final metric we assessed in this category is the number of patients who ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 5.5 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

This nursing home also received a very impressive nursing grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of A. The nursing score weighs a handful of factors, most of which are based on quantities of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. This place performed very well in the area of minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

The final area we analyzed is long-term care, where this facility was awarded a grade of A. This finished off a very strong report card. Only a select few facilities received an A- or higher in in each area we assessed. Long-term care scores of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. After looking at the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.