Sante of Mesa

While we did not have many favorable things to say about this facility's overall grade, it earned a respectable inspection report this year. As a result, it received a decent grade in that category with a B-. Inspection grades weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of 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. Lastly, this nursing home was cited by CMS for possible abuse or neglect. This is generally a really bad sign. We would never recommend this facility.

We also want to point out that this facility received a decent grade in our nursing category. We awarded it a grade of B- in the area. Our nursing grade is mostly tied to the nursing home's nurse staffing. This facility provided just 0.6 hours of nursing care per patient daily. This figure is far below average. Lastly, our nursing scores also factor in quality-based metrics, such as avoiding major falls. Despite not having the highest total nursing hours per resident, this nursing home performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is generally a good indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a nursing home provides enough nurses to assist its patients.

This facility's next most favorable area was short-term care. In that category, we gave this nursing home a B-. Our short-term care scores are considered to be more important for residents in need of rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually utilizes additional highly-skilled nursing services. This includes not only nursing, but also physical and occupational therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other nursing homes. The more important thing is determining what bearing this had on the quality of care. Lastly, we looked at the percentage of patients who eventually returned home from this nursing home. We found that 7.3 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home. This figure was actually quite a bit below the national average.

The next category we looked at is long-term care. This nursing home was awarded a B- for this category. In calculating our long-term care grades, we quantify the facility's personal care services. One of the factors we considered on top of nurse's aid hours is vaccinations. It does not appear that this facility submitted data regarding vaccinations. Finally, this nursing home 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.