Our Lady of the Valley

In addition to receiving a great overall score, this nursing home also received top notch health inspections in recent years. We awarded them one of our higher grades in that category, with a grade of A-. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors found on a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better scores in this category typically have very few severe deficiencies. This facility was assessed 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered severe. This tells you that CMS did not consider any of these deficiencies an imminent risk to patient safety or health. A few minor dings are not necessarily something to panic about.

One of the other reasons we rated this nursing home so highly is that it was awarded a dominant short-term care grade. Indeed, short-term care is its second highest category score. In that area, we gave this facility a grade of A-. Our short-term care grade is generally used to gauge a nursing home's rehabilitation services. In order to provide highly scored rehabilitation services, facilities generally must feature better levels of highly skilled nursing services. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other types of therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last measure we considered in this category is the percentage of patients who ultimately were able to return home from the facility. We found that 6.1 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Another strong feature for this facility is that it received an impressive nursing grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of B. The nursing rating analyzes several factors, but the paramount one is the level of nurse hours per patient per week. This facility 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 prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

The next area we analyzed was long-term care. We gave this nursing home a grade of C in this area. For residents seeking a permanent residence rather than skilled nursing, long-term care grades are a key measure. Once we assessed the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we next considered the facility's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 99.42197 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is more than most nursing homes. This nursing home was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.