Langdon Place of Keene

One of the many reasons this turned out to be a quality nursing home is that it received an A+ inspection grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. Inspection ratings weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with better grades in this category tend to have few of these severe deficiencies. 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. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

In addition, this facility received high marks in the area of nursing. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A+. Our nursing grade is mostly associated with a nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This nursing home averages 0.6 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This place 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 often be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

The next area we analyzed is long-term care. This nursing home also was awarded an A+ long-term care grade, rendering it one of the few facilities to be given multiple A+ category scores. Facilities that excel in this category typically provide patients with better supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. One of the statistics we considered after nursing hours is vaccines. This facility administered the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its residents. This is a great way to avoid negative health outcomes for the nursing home population. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

In our last category, this nursing home was awarded another A+ for its short-term care rating. This finalized a truly special profile of straight A+'s. In determining our short-term care ratings, we size up a nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other types of therapists. This grade is often a meaningful assessment of a facility's rehabilitation. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not all facilities employs these types of nurses. However, based on the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final measure we assessed in this area is the percentage of patients that eventually returned home from the facility. We found that 6.2 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.