Northridge Care Center

Even though we gave this nursing home a poor overall score, we gave it a fairly respectable grade in nursing, where it received a grade of B-. This was at least better than its other category scores. Our nursing category consists of quite a few components, many of which are associated with quantities of nurse staffing. This nursing home averages just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a very low figure. Lastly, although this facility got dinged a bit for nursing hours, it excelled in a few of our quality-based metrics. With fewer than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it did remarkably well in this metric.

The next highest area we gave this nursing home in any category came in the area of long-term care, where we awarded it a C. For prospective patients seeking a permanent residence rather than skilled nursing, long-term care grades are very important. In addition to assessing the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is higher than most nursing homes. Finally, this nursing home was also able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

This facility received mediocre inspections in recent years. We awarded them a C in this category. Our inspection scores weigh several factors found on a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. This facility was assessed 10 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none were in categories G through L. This means that the government inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies to create an imminent danger to resident safety or health. Unfortunately, we also need to draw your attention to the fact that this facility received significant government fines in recent years.

Moving on to our last category, we gave this nursing home a grade of D for our short-term care category. This was the facility's least impressive category grade. Our short-term care grade is typically used to assess a nursing home's performance with rehabilitation. To provide highly graded rehabilitation services, nursing homes generally need to offer better levels of skilled nursing services. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other highly skilled individuals. Considering its grade in this area, we weren't stunned to find that this facility is well below average in terms of its quantity of physical therapy and registered nurse hours provided to its patients based on the figures we assessed. The final statistic we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to return home from the facility. This nursing home struggled quite a bit in this area as well, with just 3.5 percent of its residents returning home.