Sunny Hill Care Center
1708 Harding Street, Tama IA 52339 · (641) 484-4061 · 88.07% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Sunny Hill Care Center is a small nursing home located in Tama, Iowa. With an overall rating of B+, this facility should work for most people. In fact, we ranked this nursing home in the top third of all nursing homes in the country. We were also pleased to find that this place didn't have any weak links in any of the major categories. More information about its category grades is available below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 57 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of being an elite facility overall, this nursing home performed well in the area of inspections, where it received a grade of A+. Few nursing homes performed this well in this area. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating these inspection ratings. One of those factors is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more important than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies can be relatively insignificant. While this facility had a few deficiencies on its report, none of them were major deficiencies based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
Contributing to this facility's list of achievements, it also received a high-end long-term care grade. We awarded them an elite strong of A in this category. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are well cared for. On top of looking at the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia is often a life threatening condition for nursing home residents so we prefer when a facility does not take any chances. This facility also keeps its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 1.32 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Nurse Quality
This facility received a very good nursing grade this year as well. It received one of our better scores in that category with a grade of B. When determining a nursing home's nursing grade, we weigh the amount of time nurses are caring for residents as well as the level of licensure of those nurses. This nursing home provides 3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at certain nursing quality-based metrics in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these metrics as reliable indicators of the caliber of nursing care being provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Short-term Care Quality
The next category we assessed is short-term care. In this area, we awarded this nursing home an acceptable grade of B-. This actually is this nursing home's worst category. In computing our short-term care grades, we scrutinize the facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This area is frequently a fair measure of a nursing home's ability to rehabilitate patients. This nursing home employs both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities employ these skilled professionals. The last item we assessed in this category is the number of residents that were able to return home from the facility. We found that just 42.3 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home. This figure was below average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Sunny Hill Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This metric tells you the percentage of long-term residents who are suffering from new or worsened pressure ulcers . We bake this statistic into both nursing and long-term care grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of residents that suffered from a major fall. Falls resulting in major injury are often caused by lower quality nursing care. Better nursing care minimizes the number of major falls sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of patients who sustained a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many experts to be an indicator of nursing care . UTI's are routinely associated with lower quality nursing care. However, this metric could be misleading for some facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of residents given antipsychotic drugs. These medications are sometimes used for several medical conditions, such as Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is an indication of the percent of long-term patients that are prescribed antianxiety medication. These medications are generally prescribed to residents experiencing anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients demonstrating symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percentage of residents who received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This indicates the percentage of residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's may indicate the erosion of a resident's health.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percent of residents that maintained mobility over time. Retaining mobility can be a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of patient care. There is generally a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and the overall quality of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
Measures the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term resident care. Avoiding rehospitalizations during rehabilitation is key to restoring the physical well-being of residents.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
Measures the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This is the percentage of short-term stay patients that experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better