With a population of 24,239 people, Athens, Texas is a small city. There are just 3 nursing homes in the city, which doesn't provide you with too many choices. We gave this city a city grade of B for based on the quality of its nursing homes. In fact, this city's city grade was far better than the city grade of nursing homes in the nearby city of Red Oak. While the nursing homes in Red Oak are not terrible, we found Athens to be in a totally different league. The best aspect of this city's strong profile is its nursing homes' inspection grades. We discuss inspections in the next section
In addition to performing well in its overall grade, most of the facilities in Athens performed remarkably well in terms of its inspection grade. In fact, some of the nursing homes in the city received nearly flawless inspection reports this year. Consequently, it received one of our best grades in that category with an A+. Inspection grades are tied to pieces of information located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Facilities that receive favorable grades in this area typically have very few deficiencies on those reports. Most importantly, these facilities should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. Athens also fared well in the category of government long-term care with a grade of B+. Finally, this place were awarded a C for its short-term care score and a grade of D in the area of nursing. Clearly, nursing proved to be its weak link, but one poor category score shouldn't shape your entire perception of the city.