The Grove at Harmony

In addition to being a respectable facility overall, this facility also excelled in the area of inspections, where it received an A. Few nursing homes performed better in this category. Our inspection grades weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better grades in this area typically have very few severe deficiencies. While this facility had some deficiencies on its report, none of them were severe based on CMS' deficiency scale. A few minor deficiencies shouldn't lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

We also gave this nursing home a decent score in the category of nursing care, with a grade of B-. Our nursing rating is mostly based on a nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This facility provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Finally, we also looked at some nursing quality-based metrics. While this nursing home got docked a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in a few of these quality metrics. With less than five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it did remarkably well in this metric. This can be a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can typically be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as having a system of turning patients at least once a day.

This nursing home was given its third highest category score in the area of long-term care. We awarded this facility a grade of C in this category, which is a reasonably acceptable score. For long-term care residents, the nursing home's primary goal 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 patients. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility gave the vaccine to 98.4326 percent of its residents, which is more than the average nursing home. Lastly, this nursing home was also able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

The last area we rated is short-term care, which ended up being this facility's worst area. We awarded this nursing home a grade of D in that area. In our short-term care score, we seek to create a valuable barometer for rehabilitation services. In this process, we assess a facility's level of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as speech therapy. Not surprisingly, we found that this nursing home provides far less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. The last datapoint we looked at in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 3.5 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these subpar statistics sunk this facility's short-term care score.