Smith Crossing

Although we did not rate this facility well overall, we want to point out its decent grade of B- in the category of nursing. We assessed the qualifications of nurses at the nursing home, as well as the quantity of time those nurses were with residents, in computing our grade in this area. This particular facility provided just 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This figure is significantly below the national average. Finally, nursing grades also factor in quality-based measures, such as preventing major falls. Despite not having the most impressive total nursing hours, this nursing home actually performed admirably in the area of preventing major falls. This is usually a good indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Many falls could be avoided if a facility provides enough nurses to assist its patients.

The second highest area we awarded this nursing home in any category came in the category of short-term care, where we awarded it a B-. In determining our short-term care grades, we assess a facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other highly trained professionals. This grade is often a solid assessment of a facility's rehabilitation. Unfortunately, we found that this facility provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. The more important thing is determining what effect this had on the quality of care. Lastly, we considered the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 6.3 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most nursing homes, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

We also gave this facility a respectable grade in the area of long-term care, where it received a grade of B-. Our long-term care grades are more meaningful for residents in need of more conventional assistance associated with activities of daily living. In addition to assessing the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 91.19497 percent of its residents. This is slightly less than we were hoping for but still a respectable percentage. Nevertheless, this nursing home excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.

Turning the final category of government inspections, we gave this nursing home just a D for our inspection category. This proved to be this facility's weakest category. We take a poor grade in this category very seriously. Inspection ratings weigh several factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. You should be more cautious when considering a nursing home with severe deficiencies on its inspection reports. This particular facility was hit with 4 deficiencies by CMS. The only favorable thing we can say is that none of these deficiencies were in the categories that suggest they caused a threat to resident 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.