Oregon Veterans Home
700 Veterans Drive, The Dalles OR 97058 · (541) 296-7190 · 90.33% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
With an address in The Dalles, Oregon, Oregon Veterans Home is one of a mere three available nursing homes in the city. With an overall rating of A-, this nursing home is among the better nursing homes we assessed. In fact, we ranked this nursing home in the top third of all nursing homes in the United States. The best part of this facility's impressive profile is its inspection grade. We discuss inspections in the next section
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 151 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
One of the reasons this ended up being a great nursing home is it earned a very impressive inspection grade. In fact, inspections ended up being its best category. In this area, we awarded this nursing home an A. These inspection scores weigh several factors, including deficiencies, substantiated complaints and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these factors by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This facility received 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies to cause an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A couple relatively minor dings aren't the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
One of the other reasons we graded this nursing home so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing rating. In fact, nursing proved to be its second best category grade. In that area, we gave this nursing home an A. When computing a nursing home's nursing score, we weigh the number of hours nurses are caring for patients and the levels of training of the nurses. This place provided 4.5 hours of nursing care per resident each day, which is among the higher totals in the country. A significant percentage of those hours were provided by registered nurses, which are one of the most highly skilled levels of nurses. We are very impressed by both of these figures. On top of offering high levels of nursing care, this place also fared well in several of the quality-based metrics we assessed. For example, in terms of the number of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, this nursing home outpaced the national average. This is often an indicator that a place has reliable quality controls in place. Pressure ulcers can typically be prevented with better nursing care and a policy of regularly turning residents to avoid bed sores.
Long-term Care Quality
This facility also was awarded a very strong long-term care score. In fact, this turned out to be its third strongest category score. In that area, we gave this facility a grade of A-. When facilities receive a grade in this range in this category it generally means it has plenty of staff and is an overall good place to reside on a permanent basis. After considering the impressive nursing care provided by this nursing home, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 99.40476 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is significantly higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Lastly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0.93 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.
Short-term Care Quality
The next area we rated was short-term care, in which this nursing home received a B-. This actually is this facility's worst area. This is still not a major area of concern. Our short-term care grades are considered to be more critical for individuals in need of rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation generally mandates more skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes not only nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other types of therapy. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. The last metric we looked at in this area is the number of patients who were able to return home from the facility. We found that just 29.5 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home. Unfortunately, this was below average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Oregon Veterans Home Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of patients who sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in the same position for an excessive period of time.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of patients that suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to serious injury are considered to be an indicator of the quality of nursing care . Major falls are routinely caused by lower levels of patient supervision.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percent of residents that sustained a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are routinely associated with facilities with lower levels of hygiene. Closer supervision can limit the number of UTI's sustained by residents in a nursing home. Note that this statistic is sometimes skewed by the fact that nursing homes have varying reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This metric gauges the percent of long-term stay residents which were given antipsychotic drugs. Increased usage of these drugs may mean a nursing home is using these medications to subdue residents in situations where such drugs are not medically required. Nevertheless, some nursing homes need to rely on these medications due to having more residents suffering from dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percent of patients given antianxiety medications. These drugs are prescribed to patients experiencing anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percent of long-term residents exhibiting symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
Measures the percent of long-term stay patients who were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
Measures the percent of long-term care residents that required increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as moving around and eating. Many would argue that this is a reliable measure of a patient's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients who were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of care. There is usually a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and the quality of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric measures the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This indicates the percentage of short-term care residents that experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living. Higher levels of autonomy with ADL's usually correlates with higher quality rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better