Ridgeview Le Sueur Medical Center

In addition to being a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ health inspections in recent years. Its inspections were virtually flawless. Our inspection scores weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One key criteria we consider is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this category generally have few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this place had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you that the government inspectors did not consider 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.

This first-rate facility also excelled in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of A+. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. Our nursing rating is mostly based on the facility's level of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 0.6 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 facility has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can many times be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

Moving on our third category, this exemplary facility also performed well in the category of long-term care. In this category, we gave it a grade of A+. Only a small group of nursing homes fared better in this area. Long-term care ratings in this range generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. After looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the facility's vaccination records. This nursing home vaccinated 98.59155 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Vaccines are vital to keeping patients out of the hospital. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

Turning to our final area, this facility was given a very strong short-term care grade. We gave it a grade of A- in this area, resulting in this facility receiving straight A's. Our short-term care grades are based on the facility's quantity of skilled nursing services. This includes a wide scope of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Lastly, we assessed the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.