Union County Nursing Home

To pair with its relatively modest overall score, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our inspections rating. This grade is far more impressive than the facility's overall score. Inspection scores are tied to datapoints located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes that excel in this category typically have very few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these facilities generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. This facility received 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors did not consider any of these deficiencies to create an imminent risk to patient safety or health. A few minor dings are not necessarily something to panic about.

This facility also was given an impressive score in our long-term care category. We awarded this facility an above average grade of B+ in that category. Facilities that receive this type of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are kept in good health. After considering the volume of care provided by nurses, we next considered the facility's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is an impressive figure. Pneumonia tragically can be a life threatening illness for nursing home residents so we strongly prefer when a nursing home doesn't leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 0.02 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

This facility's next best category was its nursing grade, where it received a grade of C. Our nursing score analyzes the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. We look at both the levels of licensure of the nurses and the quantity of hours spent with patients. This facility averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient daily, which is well below average. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this nursing home surprisingly excelled in some of the quality measures we assessed. In fact, it performed well when it comes to avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls.

This nursing home's worst area is short-term care, which is the last category we scored. It received an F for this area. Despite a few decent scores in other areas, this grade is nevertheless disappointing so we wanted to make a note of it. In calculating these short-term care scores, we quantify the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The purpose is to create a measure for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different facilities. In this nursing home's case, we found that it provides less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the average facility. The last datapoint we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We discovered that just 3.2 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.