Rae Ann Suburban

We want to point out that this nursing home really outperformed its overall grade in the category of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, we gave it one of our highest scores in that area with an A-. Our inspection grades weigh several factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher scores in this area tend to have very few of these severe deficiencies. While this nursing home had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that CMS did not consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Keep in mind that deficiency-free inspections are rare in this industry.

One of the other reasons we graded this nursing home so highly is that it received a very impressive nursing score. In that area, we awarded this nursing home a grade of B+. In computing a facility's nursing rating, we consider the quantity of hours nurses are seeing patients as well as the skill levels of the nurses. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this place excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as employing a system of turning a patient more often.

We also gave this facility a middle of the road grade in the category of short-term care, where we gave it a grade of C. Short-term care ratings are based on a nursing home's quantity of skilled nursing services. This includes a wide scope of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, not to mention other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. However, based on the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last item we looked at in this category is the number of patients who ultimately were able to return home from the facility. We found that just 4.6 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.

The next category we scored was long-term care. We awarded it a C in that category. This is a fair grade in this category. In the category of long-term care, we assess the amount of services offered by a facility, as opposed to more healthcare-oriented services. On top of assessing the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. Candidly, we were a bit alarmed this nursing home vaccinated a relatively low 82.91457 percent of its residents. Nevertheless, this place was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.