Masonic Village at Elizabethtown

On top of faring well overall, this facility earned a nearly flawless inspection report. Consequently, it received one of our highest scores in that area with an A+. Inspection ratings are based on several pieces of information found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Facilities that receive favorable grades in this category tend to have few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these nursing homes generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. This particular nursing home received 4 deficiencies on its inspection report. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

One of the other reasons we rated this nursing home so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing rating. In that area, we gave this facility an A+. Nursing scores are based largely on nurse staffing levels. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this facility 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 nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as by employing a system of moving residents more often.

Turning the page to our next category, we awarded this nursing home a score of A for its long-term care grade. This is a very strong rating. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. On top of considering the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 98.1717 percent of its patients, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia can be a dangerous health condition for nursing home residents so we like it when a nursing home does not take any chances. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

In the last area, this facility also received a first-rate short-term care score, with a grade of A-. This completed an elusive straight A report card. In the category of short-term care, we strive to qualify indicators of a nursing home's rehabilitation. We analyze the nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses and physical therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the information this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. Lastly, we considered the number of residents that ultimately returned home from this facility. We found that 5 percent of this facility's patients returned home.