Sante of Mesa

In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ short-term care grade. In the category of short-term care, we endeavor to assess measures of a nursing home's rehabilitation. We assess a facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses and physical, occupational and other therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last datapoint we assessed in this category is the number of patients that ultimately were able to return 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 this nursing home's impressive resume, we gave this facility an A for inspections. Inspection ratings weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this category tend to have very few severe deficiencies. 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.

The next category we analyzed was long-term care. Contributing to its elite profile, this facility also performed well in that area. In fact, it received a grade of of A for that area. For prospective residents looking for a permanent residence rather than skilled nursing, long-term care grades are an important measure. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then looked at the facility's vaccination records. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this facility submitted vaccination data. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

In our final category, we gave this nursing home an A for our nursing rating. This finished off a very impressive report card. When determining our nursing ratings, we analyze both nursing hours and the levels of licensure of those nurses. This particular nursing home provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also assessed certain nursing quality measures in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these data points as reliable indicators of the caliber of nursing care provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.