Sylvan Health Center

In addition to being an elite nursing home overall, this nursing home performed well in our inspections category, where it received an A+. Few places performed this well in this area. Inspection scores are tied to several items located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that receive favorable grades in this area have few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these places generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. This nursing home was assessed 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe deficiencies. This means that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies an immediate threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This facility also was awarded an A+ short-term care grade, rendering it one of the few facilities to be given more than one A+ category scores. In the category of short-term care, we seek to evaluate indicators of a facility's rehabilitation. We analyze a facility's skilled nursing services, such as the ones performed by registered nurses and physical therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not every nursing home employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Finally, we assessed the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 5.9 percent of this facility's patients returned home.

We also gave this nursing home a grade of of A+ for its long-term care grade. When facilities receive a score in this range in long-term care it typically means it has plenty of staff and is a quality place to reside on a permanent basis. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients, which is much higher than the majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Turning to our last area, this facility also performed admirably in the nursing category. In fact, we awarded it an A- for this category. This topped off a straight A profile. Nursing ratings are largely based on the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can generally be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.