Meadow Wind Health Care Center

The main reason this nursing home received a decent overall grade is its impeccable inspections in recent years. We awarded them one of our better grades in that category, with an A. This is a much better score than the place's overall score, which was decent but certainly not elite. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we consider is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this area typically have few of these severe deficiencies. This facility was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This means that CMS didn't consider any of these deficiencies to create an immediate risk to patient safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies should not lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

This facilities next most favorable area was long-term care. We gave it a grade of C in this category. This is essentially a middle of the pack score in this area. In our long-term care score, we weigh the amount of services offered by a nursing home, along with a series of quality statistics. After looking at the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination statistics. We were concerned by the fact that this facility vaccinated just 88.54626 percent of its residents for pneumonia. On a more positive note, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Next, we looked at the nursing category where we awarded this nursing home a grade of C, which is a decent grade. The nursing rating includes many datapoints, many of which are tied to nursing hours. This place provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is a low total compared with most other nursing homes. Lastly, we also assessed several nursing quality measures. While this facility got docked a bit for its nursing hours, it actually excelled in some of these quality metrics. With less than five percent of its patients experiencing pressure ulcers, it performed well in this area. This can be an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving patients more often.

The last category we rated is short-term care, which turned out to be a weak spot for this facility. We awarded this nursing home a grade of D in our short-term care category. With our short-term care category, we endeavor to create a fair measure for rehabilitation services. In doing so, we look at the facility's offerings of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. With a score of this caliber in this area, we were not stunned to learn this nursing home was below average in several staffing figures we focus on. The nursing home provided significantly fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per patient than most other facilities. The final datapoint we looked at in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 4.6 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these poor statistics sunk this nursing home's short-term care grade.