Mark Twain Caring Center

This nursing home's best category grade came in the area of health inspections. In this category, we awarded this facility a B+. It actually outperformed most facilities in this area. Our inspection ratings account for a host of 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. Places with higher grades in this category typically have few severe deficiencies. While this facility had a few minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G through L. This tells you the inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A few minor deficiencies shouldn't stop you from considering a nursing home.

This facility's long-term care score ended up being one of its respectable grades. The facility was given a B- in this area. In determining our long-term care scores, we look at the personal care received by a facility's residents. One of the statistics we considered after nursing hours was vaccines. Frankly, we were a bit alarmed this nursing home provided the pneumonia vaccination to just 89.03226 percent of its residents. Fortunately, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

The next category we analyzed is short-term care. In that area, we awarded this facility a decent grade of C. With our short-term care rating, we attempt to craft a fair barometer for rehabilitation services. In doing so, we look at the nursing home's scope of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. 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 a typical facility. The hope is that this does not adversely impact the quality of care. The final statistic we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients that ultimately were able to return home from the facility. We found that just 0 percent of this facility's patients returned home.

The final category we rated is nursing, which is this facility's weakest area. We awarded this facility a D in this category. Nursing ratings are based largely on nurse staffing levels. This place averaged a meager 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. To go along with its subpar totals in the area of nursing hours per patient, this nursing home also did not fare as well in the quality-based measures we looked at in computing our nursing grades. We looked at the percentage of residents experiencing major falls and pressure ulcers. This place had more pressure ulcers and falls than the average nursing home. This could be a bad sign when you consider that many bed sores and falls are preventable with better nursing care. Unfortunately, these statistics hurt this facility's nursing grade significantly.