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Homes get good rankings
Local nursing homes rated by U.S. agency
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Published: December 29, 2008
A third of nursing-home centers in Forsyth County are ranked as above-average or better by the Centers of Medicaid & Medicare Services.
The agency recently began providing rankings at www.medicare.gov for the nation's 15,800 nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. The rankings will be updated monthly.
The nursing homes are ranked on a one- to five-star basis, with five being the highest.
The rankings focus on three categories -- health inspections, staffing and quality measures. The criteria include annual inspections of the nursing home and resident care, overall nurse staffing hours and the number of health citations based on three years' worth of standard and substantiated complaint surveys and survey revisits.
In a 14-county area that included Northwest North Carolina and the Triad, there were more nursing homes rated with one star (26, or 31 percent), than any other category. There were 11 five-star centers, or 13 percent.
By comparison, 11 percent of the nursing homes nationally received five stars, and 22 percent received one star.
"Our goal in developing this unprecedented quality rating system is to provide families a straightforward assessment of nursing-home quality, with meaningful distinctions between high- and low-performing homes," said Kerry Weems, the acting administrator for the federal agency.
"The new information will also help consumers and families identify important questions to ask nursing homes and challenge nursing homes to improve their quality of care."
Four of the 12 nursing-home centers in Forsyth got a four- or five-star rating.
The two that got a five-star rating are affiliated with Forsyth Medical Center -- The Oaks at Forsyth and the 22 beds in the skilled-nursing unit at the hospital. The hospital's Springwood Care Center of Forsyth received an overall two-star rating.
Four others received an overall one-star rating -- Clemmons Nursing & Rehab Center, Grace Healthcare of Winston-Salem, the Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Facility at Oak Summit and Silas Creek Manor. The Oak Summit center is affiliated with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Baptist's skilled-nursing unit at Stokes-Reynolds Hospital in Danbury has four stars overall. Baptist officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
"We agree that the public needs to have a means to evaluate nursing homes," said Freda Springs, a spokeswoman for Forsyth Medical Center. "However, the five-star rating system does not accurately depict the complexity of the long-term care system.
"While we encourage families to visit the Web site to learn more about how the rating system was established, the site should not be the only tool used to choose a nursing home. Nothing can substitute an actual visit."
Another Web site is provided by the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association at www.nursinghomesnc.com.
The other five-star nursing homes in the region are River Landing at Sandy Ridge in Colfax, Friends Homes West in Greensboro, the Presbyterian Home of High Point, Village Care in King, Sunbridge Care and Rehab in Lexington, the Presbyterian Home of Hawfields in Mebane, Clapps Nursing Center Inc. in Pleasant Garden, Countryside Manor in Stokesdale and Britthaven of Wilkesboro.
Ruth McCandless, an administrator at Village Care in King, said she expects that the nursing home will gain residents, as well as in stature, with its five-star ranking.
"The public is becoming very computer savvy and will use this Web site in their evaluations," McCandless said.
Weems said that the agency's rankings are not intended to be the only tool that families use in selecting the right nursing-home center.
"Nursing homes can make dramatic improvements between rating periods, just as a previously highly rated home could see its quality of care deteriorate," Weems said. "And nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home."
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
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