Silver Bluff

Although we were not high on this facility overall, we awarded it a B- for our inspections rating. This grade is better than this place's overall grade. Inspection grades account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. While this nursing home had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means the inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. 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.

This nursing home actually received a decent grade in the area of nursing as well. We awarded it a grade of B- for that category, which is not a bad score. Nursing ratings are mostly tied to the facility's level of nurse staffing. This place provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident daily. This is a low total compared to most nursing homes. Lastly, despite not having the most impressive total nursing hours per resident, this nursing home actually performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is often a good indicator that a place has sufficient quality controls in place.

This nursing home's third best category was short-term care. We awarded it a B- in this area. This is basically a middle of the road score in this category. In our short-term care assessment, we endeavor to craft a valuable measure for rehabilitation. In this process, we analyze the facility's offerings of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as respiratory therapy. We were surprised to find that this facility was below average in the two key staffing areas we looked at. In fact, it provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. It is important to determine whether this is adversely impacting the quality of care. The last item we assessed in this area is the number of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 4.8 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is actually below average.

The final area we rated is long-term care. We gave it a B- in this category. This is a decent grade in this category. If you are seeking anything other than short-term rehabilitation, you should take a close look at each nursing home's long-term care grades. In addition to looking at the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility gave the vaccine to 99.15493 percent of its residents. Finally, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.