The Lincoln Glen Skilled Nursing Facility

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility excelled in our nursing rating. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. In computing our nursing ratings, we weigh both staffing levels and the skill levels of the nurses. This nursing home provides 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures and this nursing home excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any facility the state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as having a policy of turning residents at least once a day.

This facility also was dominant in the category of short-term care, where it received a grade of A. Not many facilities performed better in this area. With our short-term care grade, we strive to craft a fair barometer for rehabilitation services. In this process, we assess the facility's levels of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last metric we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.

Adding to this facility's impressive resume, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A- for our inspections rating. Inspection grades account for a host of factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher grades in this area typically have very few severe deficiencies. Amazingly, this was one of the few nursing homes in the country that had no deficiencies whatsoever on its inspection report. This is very impressive. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

In our final category, this facility also was awarded an impressive long-term care grade, with a grade of A-. This finished off an elite profile. Facilities that receive this type of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure patients are kept in good health. In addition to considering the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients, which is far higher than the majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this nursing home 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.