Life Care Center of Kirkland

While this place's overall grade was not a highlight, it received a somewhat respectable grade in the area of inspections. We awarded it a B- for that category, which is a decent score. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection ratings. One critical factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more important than the quantity of deficiencies, as some of these end up being quite minor. Although this facility had a few deficiencies on its report, none were major deficiencies based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, CMS flagged this nursing home for possible abuse or neglect. This is not what you want to see. We advise you to direct your search elsewhere.

One of the other reasons we graded this facility so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing grade. This turned out to be its second best category grade. In that area, we gave this facility an B-. In computing a nursing home's nursing rating, we look at the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients as well as the levels of training of those nurses. This facility provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this place actually excelled in some of the quality-based metrics we assessed. It performed well in the area of avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. Many consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care. In many cases, the quality of nursing care is every bit as important as the quantity of hours of care provided.

The third category we graded is short-term care. In that area, we awarded this facility a B-. Our short-term care ratings are likely more important for patients requiring a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually mandates higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. This means not only nursing, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other types of therapy. In this place's case, we were surprised to learn that it actually provides less registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than the typical facility. Finally, we assessed the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 7.2 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most nursing homes, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

Switching gears to the last category, this facility received a grade of C for long-term care, which is generally a respectable rating. Our long-term care grade is commonly used to measure a facility's performance as a traditional convalescent home, as opposed to focusing more on the skilled nursing services provided by a rehabilitation facility. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 97.22222 percent of its patients, which is more than most nursing homes. Lastly, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.