Northwest Nursing Center

This nursing home received a nursing rating which is stronger than its overall grade. We awarded this nursing home an above average score of B in this area. There are a host of criteria included in this grade. Most of these factors are tied to the quantity of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can often be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

This facility actually earned a solid inspection report this year as well, with few major dings from the applicable government inspectors. As a result, it earned one of our better scores in that category with a B-. We were surprised this facility earned multiple category grades of this caliber. Inspection grades weigh several factors, including deficiencies and federal fines. You can find more information about each of these items by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. Fortunately, although this place had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A few minor deficiencies should not stop you from considering a nursing home.

The third area we looked at was short-term care, where this facility was given a C in this area. Short-term care ratings are based in part on the facility's quantity of highly-skilled highly skilled professionals. This means a wide spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, not to mention other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other facilities. Finally, we assessed the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most facilities, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

The final area we scored was long-term care. This facility received a grade of C in the category. Our long-term care ratings are more critical for those in need of more traditional services related to personal care. Once we looked at the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination record. We were a bit bothered by the fact that this facility vaccinated 70.85427 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which happens to be several points below what we expected. Nevertheless, this place excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.