Symphony at 87th Street

While this facility's overall grade was as bad as it gets, it actually didn't perform terribly in the area of inspections. In fact, we awarded it a B- for that category, which is one of our better scores. These inspection grades take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these issues by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. While this facility had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G through L. This means CMS didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A few minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.

We were also surprised to find that this facility received a decent nursing grade this year. We gave it a grade of C in that category. Nursing ratings are mostly based on the nursing home's nurse staffing. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Lastly, our nursing scores also factor in quality-based metrics, such as avoiding 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 generally a good indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a facility supplies enough nurses aids to assist its residents.

We were also stunned to find that this nursing home received a decent short-term care score in our assessment. We gave it a grade of C in that area. Our short-term care ratings are based on the facility's quantity of skilled nursing services. This means a wide spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, not to mention other types of therapy. We were surprised to find that this nursing home was below average in the two key staffing areas we assessed. In fact, it supplied fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. It is still important to determine whether this is adversely impacting the quality of care. The last item we considered in this category is the number of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We discovered that just 5 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is actually below average.

Moving on to our last category, this facility really did not fare well in this area either. Due to a bottom of the barrel grade of F in long-term care, this is about as as uninspiring as it gets. For patients looking for a permanent place to live as opposed to rehabilitation, long-term care is an important category. One of the data points we considered on top of nursing hours was vaccinations. Thankfully, this nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccination to 97.38318 percent of its residents. Surprisingly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this nursing home has less hospitalizations than the majority of nursing homes. Sadly, a few of its other scores in this category were not as favorable as these.