Western Slope Health Center
3280 Washington Street, Placerville CA 95667 · (530) 622-6842 · 89.39% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Western Slope Health Center is located in Placerville, California. We think highly of this facility, which we awarded a B+ overall. We were equally impressed with the city grade of facilities in Placerville, making this a great place to find a nursing home. Based on our assessment, you can do much worse than this facility. As you will see below, this nursing home also performed well in our category scores. It is hard to find any major flaws in this facility's profile.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 99 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this nursing home earned near flawless inspections in recent years. We gave them an A+ in this area. These inspection scores weigh several factors, including deficiencies and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these issues by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. While this place had some deficiencies on its inspection report, none were serious based on CMS' deficiency scale. Keep in mind that deficiency-free inspection reports are rare in this industry.
Short-term Care Quality
This nursing home performed well in the area of short-term care. As a result, we gave it a score of A- for that area, which turns out to be one of our most favorable scores. Our short-term care scores are arguably more critical for folks requiring rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation usually requires more highly-skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means not merely nursing services, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other types of therapy. We were impressed to discover that this nursing home offers its residents measurably more physical therapist hours than most other nursing homes. The final metric we assessed in this category is the number of residents who ultimately were able to return home from the facility. We found that it performed better than most nursing homes in this area with 49.4 percent of its patients returning home.
Long-term Care Quality
Additionally, this nursing home also was awarded favorable long-term care grades this year. In fact, we awarded it one of our more favorable grades in that area, with a score of B. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. One of the factors we considered on top of this nursing home's quality nursing hours is vaccines. This nursing home provided the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are a great way to avoid unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations for the elderly. Lastly, we looked at the nursing home's number of hospitalizations. Although it had 2.05 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, its risk adjusted score was middle of the road since it had more complex patients.
Nurse Quality
The last area we assessed was nursing. This facility was awarded an impressive nursing score this year, with a grade of B. This facility truly does not have any weak areas. Nursing scores are based in large part on levels of nurse staffing. This facility provides a very impressive 4.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is among the better totals in the state. Finally, we also looked at nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing ratings. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these data points as good measures of the caliber of nursing care offered, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Western Slope Health Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of patients who suffered from a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care . Pressure ulcers, which are also referred to as bed sores, are routinely caused by patients not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term care patients who had a fall which resulted in serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls could be an indication of lower levels of patient supervision.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of patients that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are linked to inadequate hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This metric indicates the percent of long-term patients who are given antipsychotic drugs. High levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior in scenarios where such medications aren't medically required. However, some nursing homes need to rely on these medications due to having more residents suffering from dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percent of long-term residents taking antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percent of long-term residents exhibiting symptoms of depression. Many in the industry argue that this is a reliable measure of quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percentage of residents that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be standard at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This indicates the percent of residents that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's could be a sign of the decline of a patient's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term patients that were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care. Minimizing hospitalizations is critical to preserving the physical health of patients.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of short-term stay residents who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better