On With Life - Ankeny Campus

On top of receiving a strong overall grade, this facility also received an A+ inspection score. This is based on its recent government inspections. An A+ in this category is one of the highest complements we can offer a facility. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in calculating our inspection scores. One critical factor is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of deficiencies is usually more important than the quantity of deficiencies, as some of these end up being relatively minor. Fortunately, although this nursing home had a few minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G through L. This means that the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This nursing home also was elite in the category of short-term care, where we gave it a score of A. Very few nursing homes received a better grade in this area. Our short-term care grades are based on a facility's quantity of highly-skilled nursing services. This includes a wide spectrum of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, not to mention other types of therapy. This nursing home employs both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities employ these skilled professionals. The last item we looked at in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the facility and return home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients were able to return home.

This nursing home also was awarded a impressive long-term care score. Indeed, this ended up being this facility's third best category score. In that area, we awarded this facility a score of A-. Facilities that receive this type of grade in this category typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are kept in good health. In addition to considering the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home vaccinated 52.941177 percent of its residents, which is a few points less than we were hoping for. Although its vaccination rate was a bit lower than we like to see, we were pleased to find nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

In the last area, we gave this facility a A+ for our nursing grade. This finished off a first-rate profile. Our nursing score assesses a handful of factors, most of which are based on nursing hours. This nursing home provides 0.9 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This nursing home 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 generally be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.