Presence Saint Joseph Hospital-Chicago

In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ short-term care grade. In the area of short-term care, we try to evaluate measures of a facility's rehabilitation. We analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including the ones performed by registered nurses and various therapists. We were pleased to find that this nursing home employs both registered nurses and physical therapists. The same can't be said for all nursing homes. The last datapoint we assessed in this area is the number of patients who returned home from the facility. We found that 7 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Adding to its impressive category scores, this nursing home excelled in the area of inspections, where it earned an A. Not many nursing homes performed better in this area. Inspection ratings are based on many pieces of information found on the a nursing home's government inspections. Nursing homes that receive favorable grades in this area typically have few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these facilities generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. Fortunately, although this place had a few minor dings on its government inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you CMS did not deem 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.

Building on its high-end resume, this facility also was awarded a dominant long-term care grade, with a grade of A. Facilities that receive this kind of score in this category typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are well cared for. One of the criteria we considered in addition to nursing hours was vaccinations. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this nursing home provided information on its vaccination levels. 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 less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Switching gears to the fourth area, this facility also performed admirably in our nursing category. We awarded it an A in that area. This rounded out a straight A profile. In calculating a nursing home's nursing score, we weigh the quantity of hours nurses are with patients and the skill levels of those nurses. This facility provided 0.8 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 frequently be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.