Thief River Care Center

While we did not have many favorable things to say about this facility's overall grade, it did receive a respectable nursing grade of B-. In computing our nursing ratings, we look at both staffing levels and the levels of licensure of those nurses. This place provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient per day. This is a much lower figure than we are used to seeing. Lastly, although this facility got docked a bit for nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in a few of our quality-based metrics. With less than five percent of its patients sustaining pressure ulcers, it did very well in this metric.

This nursing home was given its next most favorable category grade in the category of short-term care. We awarded this facility a B- in this area, which is a reasonably acceptable grade. In our short-term care rating, we strive to create a meaningful gauge for rehabilitation. In doing so, we assess a facility's level of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as respiratory therapy. We found that this place was below average in the two key staffing areas we looked at. In fact, it provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other facilities. It is still important to determine whether this is adversely impacting the quality of care. The last measure we considered in this category is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 4.9 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is actually below average.

This facility was given its next highest category score in the area of long-term care. We gave this nursing home a grade of B- in this category, which is a reasonably acceptable grade. For patients in need of a permanent place to live rather than rehabilitation, long-term care grades are an important measure. In addition to looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. Lastly, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Turning to our final category of inspections, this facility received a grade that's as bad as it gets. We weight this category more heavily than our other categories. For places that received this bad of an inspection score, we recommend scrutinizing the severe deficiencies on its inspection report. This facility was hit with several category G through L deficiencies, which are among the more severe deficiencies. This generally indicates that the deficiencies identified by CMS had the potential to cause actual harm to residents. We are also concerned by the fact that this facility was flagged by CMS for possible abuse or neglect. We prefer to avoid facilities with this designation. Please do your best to find an alternative nursing home.