Penn State Health Transitional Care

In addition to receiving a strong overall rating, this facility also received an A+ inspection rating. This score is based on the facility's recent inspection reports. An A+ in this area is one of the best complements we can offer a facility. Perhaps the most significant factor we consider in determining our inspection ratings is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a facility's recent inspection reports. Facilities with better grades in this category most likely dodged the more severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This facility was given quality marks in the area of short-term care. For this reason, it was given one of our most impressive scores in that category with a score of A+. Short-term care scores are important for individuals needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally mandates additional skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means a vast spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final statistic we looked at in this category is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return home. We discovered that 6.5 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.

To complement its strong performance in other areas, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A+ for our inspections rating. Our nursing rating considers a variety of factors. The most important one is the number of hours nurses spent with patients. This nursing home provides 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place Pennsylvania in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as having a protocol of turning patients at least once a day.

The fourth category we graded is long-term care, where this facility received a grade of A. This finished off a very impressive report card. Very few nursing homes earned an A- or higher in every category. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to ensure residents are well cared for. Once we looked at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination statistics. Unfortunately, we were not able to find information on vaccination rates. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.