Linda Mar Rehabilitation

To go along with its strong overall grade, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our inspections rating. Our inspection scores weigh several factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher grades in this area tend to have very few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this facility had a few minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G through L. This tells you that the inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This facility also received a first-rate short-term care grade. This actually turned out to be this facility's second best category score. In that area, we awarded this facility a score of A. In calculating our short-term care grades, we assess the facility's levels of highly skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This area is generally a fair assessment of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Lastly, we considered the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 5.6 percent of this facility's patients returned home.

This facility also received a high-end long-term care score. Indeed, this is this facility's third best category score. In that category, we awarded this facility a score of A-. When nursing homes receive a score in this range in long-term care it generally means it's well-staffed and is an overall good place to reside on a permanent basis. One of the criteria we considered in addition to nursing hours is vaccinations. This nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. This is a great way to avoid unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations for the senior population. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. It had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Switching gears to the last category, this nursing home received an excellent nursing rating. We gave it an A- in this area, resulting in this facility receiving straight A's. Our nursing grade consists of quite a few components, however, the primary one is the number of nurse hours per patient per week. 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 place has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can many times be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.