The Center at Val Vista

In addition to being a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ health inspections in recent years. Its inspections were virtually flawless. Inspection scores account for several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with better grades in this area usually have few severe deficiencies. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Contributing to its impressive profile, this nursing home also performed well in our short-term care area. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A for that area. In the area of short-term care, we strive to qualify indicators of a facility's rehabilitation services. We look at the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses and various therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Finally, we considered the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 6.6 percent of this facility's residents returned home.

Turning the page to our next category, this facility was awarded a strong long-term care grade. In fact, we gave it a grade of A in this category. Facilities that receive this kind of score in this category typically provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are kept in good health. One of the factors we considered after nursing hours was vaccinations. It does not look like this nursing home submitted information on its vaccination levels. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

The final area we analyzed was nursing. This facility was awarded a favorable nursing score in our assessment, with a B. Even though this is not nearly as good as several of its other category grades, this is still one of our better scores for that area. When determining our nursing grades, we analyze both staffing levels and the training levels of those nurses. 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 place performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.