Wells LTC Nursing & Rehabilitation

While we graded this facility incredibly poorly overall, it received a fairly respectable inspection report this year. As a result, it received a decent grade in that category with a score of B-. We would argue that one of the most critical factors in evaluating an inspection report is deficiencies. We especially look at the severity of those deficiencies. This facility was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered severe. This means that the inspectors didn't deem any of these deficiencies to pose an immediate risk to patient health or safety. Lastly, 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.

Surprisingly, we gave this nursing home a grade of C for its long-term care score, which isn't too bad of a score. In calculating our long-term care ratings, we look at the assistance with daily living offered to the facility's patients. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination record. We were optimistic to discover that this nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Finally, this facility was also able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

Unfortunately, this nursing home only received a D for its short-term care rating, which is not a score to write home about. Short-term care ratings are based in part on a facility's quantity of skilled nursing services. This includes a wide range of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, not to mention other variations of therapy. With its poor rating in this category, we weren't surprised to find this nursing home provided substantially fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than most other facilities. Finally, we assessed the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. This definitely was not a strength for this facility. We found that just 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home. At most facilities, around half of their residents are able to return home so this is well below average.

The last category we looked at is nursing. This facility was given an abysmal grade of F in this category. In determining a facility's nursing rating, we look at the amount of time nurses are caring for patients as well as the level of skill of those nurses. This nursing home averaged just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident daily. This is not a very impressive figure. To pair with its low totals in the area of nursing hours per patient, this facility also did not perform as well in the quality-based measures we looked at in computing our nursing grades. We looked at the percent of patients experiencing pressure ulcers and major falls. This place had more falls and pressure ulcers than the average nursing home.