Mt. Pleasant Nursing Center

Mt. Pleasant Nursing Center is located in San Jose, California, which is one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the nation. We gave this facility a B overall, which is a quality score. We were equally impressed that San Jose received a B+ city grade, making this one of the best places to find a nursing home. Based on our analysis, this nursing home has quite a bit going for it. Lastly, this nursing home's ownership changed in the last year, so we will need to monitor it to confirm it maintains its high level of care.

On top of performing well in its overall grade, this nursing home performed at an even higher level in the area of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A. These inspection scores weigh several factors, including deficiencies, substantiated complaints and federal fines. You can find more information about each of these items by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This nursing home was assessed 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered to be severe deficiencies. This indicates that the government inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies an immediate threat to patient safety or health. Remember that deficiency-free inspections are uncommon in this industry.

One of the other reasons we rated this nursing home so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing grade. In fact, nursing turned out to be its second best category grade. In that category, we awarded this nursing home an B+. In determining our nursing scores, we factor in both nursing hours and the levels of licensure of the nurses. This nursing home provides high levels of nursing care, averaging 3.9 hours per resident each day. This is more nursing care than most nursing homes provide. Finally, this facility was also above average in each of the major quality measures we looked at in this category. It performed well in terms of avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers.

This facility received an impressive long-term care score as well. We gave it one of our higher grades in that category with a grade of B. Facilities that excel in this category tend to provide patients with better supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. In addition to considering the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home gave the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

The last category we rated was short-term care. In that category, we awarded this nursing home a B-. Our short-term care scores are critical for residents in need of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally mandates higher levels of highly-skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes a broad scope of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other types of therapy. We were pleased to find that this nursing home employs both registered nurses and physical therapists. The same can't be said for all nursing homes. The last statistic we considered in this area is the number of patients that returned home from the nursing home. We found that just 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home. Unfortunately, this was below the national average.