Lima Estates

On top of faring well overall, this facility received nearly flawless government inspections. Consequently, it received one of our highest grades in that category with an A+. Arguably the most significant factor we consider in computing our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a facility's inspection reports. Facilities with higher grades in this category most likely dodged the more severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. Fortunately, although this place had some minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means CMS did not consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to note the fact that this facility performed remarkably in our short-term care category. We awarded them a dominant score of A+ in this category. In calculating our short-term care ratings, we size up a facility's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other highly trained professionals. This rating is generally a useful measure of the facility's rehabilitation. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of residents who eventually returned home from this facility. We found that 6.3 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. The nursing score features a number of subcategories. The most heavily weighted factor is the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home the state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as by having a system of turning residents at least once a day.

Switching gears to the last category, this facility was given a highly favorable long-term care rating. We gave it a grade of A in that category, rounding out a straight A profile. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 96.478874 percent of its residents, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia is too frequently a dangerous ailment for nursing home patients so we strongly prefer when a nursing home doesn't roll the dice on this issue. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.