Symphony of Dyer

On top of performing well in its overall score, this nursing home received even higher marks in nursing. In fact, we gave it one of our best grades in this category with an A. The nursing rating includes a handful of factors, most of which are based on quantities 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 nursing home 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 often be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

This facility was awarded high grades in the area of short-term care as well. In fact, we awarded it one of our strongest grades in that category with a area of A. In calculating these short-term care scores, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The purpose is to create a scale for sizing up the rehabilitation services of various facilities. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. However, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last item we looked at in this area is the number of residents that eventually returned home from the facility. We found that 6 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Adding to its strong resume, this facility earned a grade of B for its inspections rating. This is a well above average score in this category. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors included in a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher scores in this category usually have very few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this place had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G through L. This tells you that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. The fact that none of the deficiencies were severe leaves us less concerned with this inspection report.

The next category we rated was long-term care, which was a weak link for this nursing home. We gave this facility a grade of D for our long-term care category, leaving this as the facility's least impressive category. We would nevertheless recommend that you consider all of a nursing home's grades. In a long-term care environment, the primary objective is to keep patients as healthy and safe as possible. This is different than skilled nursing or short-term care where the goal is to rehabilitate residents. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home gave the vaccine to 98.82353 percent of its residents. Surprisingly, this place also fared well at keeping its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had just 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Sadly, some of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.