Marion Pointe

The main reason this ended up being a decent nursing home is that it received an elite inspection score. In fact, its inspection score was far superior to its overall score. In our inspections category, we gave it an A. Our inspection scores account for several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher scores in this area tend to have few severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this place had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G through L. This tells you that the inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies should not lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

This facility received its second best category score in the area of short-term care. We gave this facility a B- in this category, which is a reasonably acceptable grade. In determining these short-term care ratings, we look at the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The purpose is to create a tool for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. In this nursing home's case, we were surprised to learn that it actually provides less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the typical facility. The hope is always that this does not adversely impact the quality of care. Finally, we looked at the percentage of residents that eventually returned home from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home. This figure was quite a bit below average.

Another strength of this nursing home is its favorable grade in nursing. We gave them one of our better scores in that area, with a score of D. When calculating a facility's nursing rating, we weigh the amount of time nurses spend with residents as well as the level of licensure of the nurses. With a meager 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident on a daily basis, this facility's nurse staffing levels were significantly below average. Finally, we also assessed some nursing quality measures in computing our nursing ratings. This nursing home fared well in the area of avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these datapoints to be good measures of the quality of nursing care.

The next area we graded is long-term care. It received an abysmal F for this category, which is a very poor score. This is certainly a major disappointment. In a long-term care setting, the facility's primary objective is to maintain residents' quality of life and keep them safe. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 98.55073 percent of its residents, which is more than most nursing homes. Surprisingly, this facility was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had just 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Sadly, a few of its other scores in this category were not as favorable as these.