U.S. News out with the best nursing homes in a time of COVID
California is the state with the most nursing homes to rate as high-performing with five stars in U.S. News & World Report’s latest listing of the best such facilities in the country.
The Golden State’s total of 350 nursing homes—215 in short-term rehabilitation and 135 in long-term care—bested that of runner-up Florida, which has 254 altogether.
Meanwhile the states with the greatest ratio of homes earning 5-star ratings to those with lower scores are Hawaii, Maine and Alaska. In those states at least half of all CMS-certified nursing homes earned the full five stars.
Overall, of some 13,433 U.S. nursing homes that received a long-term care rating, 1,139 are designated as high-performing for 2020-21.
On the short-term side, 2,362 facilities out of 14,126 are now badged with the U.S. News (de facto) seal of approval.
This year U.S. News is including safety summaries alongside the usual annual ratings. This information includes COVID data plus other safety metrics useful for selecting a nursing home while a pandemic is extant.
Factors in this category include things like health inspection records, staffing during COVID outbreaks, flu and pneumonia vaccination rates, and infection control violations.
The short-term rating adds consistency of registered nurse staffing, use of antipsychotic drugs and success in preventing falls.
Throughout the package, the web pages allow users to search for individual facilities by checking off filters for things like Medicare coverage and Alzheimer’s care along with location and bed count.
For the complete report, click here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.