Wingate at Springfield

Although we did not have many favorable things to say about this nursing home's overall score, it earned a respectable inspection report this year. As a result, it received a decent grade in this category with a B-. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in determining these inspection grades. One key factor is health deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more important than the number of deficiencies, as some can be relatively minor. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Finally, CMS flagged this nursing home for possible abuse or neglect. This is not what you want to see. We advise you to direct your search elsewhere.

One of the other reasons we rated this facility so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing rating. This proved to be its second best category grade. In that area, we awarded this nursing home an B-. The nursing grade assesses several subcategories, many of which are based on levels of nurse staffing. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Despite having low quantities of nursing care, this facility surprisingly fared better in some of the quality measures we looked at. In fact, it scored well when it comes to minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. Many consider these areas to be measures of the quality of nursing care. In some cases, the quality of nursing care is as important as the quantity of hours of care provided.

The third area we analyzed was short-term care. In that category, we gave this facility a solid grade of B-. Short-term care scores are vital for individuals needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally utilizes higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes a broad range of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other nursing homes. The tricky part is determining what effect this had on the quality of care. Finally, we looked at the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 6.1 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most facilities, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

The next category we rated is long-term care. In this category, we gave this nursing home a C. In our long-term care rating, we weigh the volume of services provided by a nursing home, along with a series of quality statistics. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we next considered the facility's vaccination data. We were disappointed to learn that this facility vaccinated a relatively low 72.413795 percent of its residents for pneumonia. On a more positive note, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0.02 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.