Parkway Place

One of the reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it earned an A+ short-term care grade. Short-term care ratings are based in part on a nursing home's quantity of skilled nursing services. This means a wide spectrum of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, not to mention other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these skilled professionals. However, based on the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final measure we considered in this area is the percentage of patients that returned home from the facility. We found that 7 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Adding to its impressive category scores, this facility excelled in the area of inspections, where it earned an A. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. Our inspection grades account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this area tend to have few severe deficiencies. While this place had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means CMS didn't deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Adding to its impressive resume, this nursing home also excelled in our nursing category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A for that category. In determining a nursing home's nursing score, we weigh the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients as well as the level of licensure of those nurses. This nursing home provides 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality measures in determining our nursing grades. This facility performed very well in the area of avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

The fourth area we looked at was long-term care, where this facility received a grade of A-. This topped off a very favorable profile. Only a select few facilities earned an A- or higher in each of our categories. Nursing homes that receive this type of score in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are well cared for. After assessing the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination record. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is much higher than the average nursing home. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.