There are many nursing home chains, and while some may be the largest, that doesn’t make them the best. When comparing ProviderMagazine.com’s list of the largest nursing home chains with the available reviews and ratings from USNews.com, an interesting picture emerges. The following are the top six nursing home chains, and their rankings.
This nursing home has a total of 411 facilities and 49,000 beds, and a $4.68 billion operating revenue. According to the rankings, many of these facilities received a four star overall review. There was also one that received a five star, which is located in New Hampshire. However, nine different facilities received a two star ranking, and one received a one-star. The main issues with these facilities were their health inspections and quality measures.
HCR ManorCare has 281 total facilities with 38,328 beds, and 15 different locations receiving a five star ranking. However, 21 of the ManorCare facilities received only one star, and 41 received only two stars, with nurse staffing receiving the lowest marks in many of them.
Golden Living has a total of 30,937 beds in 302 facilities. As the third largest nursing home chain, Golden Living boasts 47 different five star facilities, and 67 one star locations. In those with the lowest rankings, health inspections and nursing staff were the lowest scores.
Life Care Centers of America has 29,338 beds in 223 facilities. This nursing home chain had 34 facilities listed with five stars, and 22 ranked with one star. In these lowest ranking facilities, many of them received higher marks for quality measures, yet had low scores for health inspections and nurse staffing.
Consulate Health Care has 202 facilities and 22,048 beds. This nursing home chain boasts only one five star ranking for a facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, they also had 16 one star rankings, with health inspection scores keeping these facilities in the lower rankings.
Extendicare has 146 facilities with 14,778 beds, but only one location was listed on the USNews.com website. This facility received a five star ranking, with the lowest scores coming from health inspections.
One of the most interesting thing about these top nursing home chains is the fact that the biggest issue for most of them in the rankings had to do with the scores received from health inspections. As nearly every nursing home chain accepts Medicaid and Medicare patients, both the federal and state governments regulate the facilities. As a result, the locations undergo health inspections every 12 to 15 months, which also include investigations of health-related complaints that have been made.
The lower ratings in these areas are due to both the number and seriousness of any deficiencies. These deficiencies, which take into account a variety of health-related concerns in each nursing home, include:
When considering the seriousness of these issues during the inspections, both the number of patients who were affected, as well as the number of those that could have been affected are considered in the overall scoring by the inspectors.
While these are six of the top nursing home chains, even their large budgets and huge number of beds don’t make them the best overall when it comes to most important considerations. While some of each chain did receive five star rankings, the number of those receiving lower rankings shows there is room for improvement.
Sources:
http://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/
http://www.providermagazine.com/reports/Documents/2014/Top50_2014.pdf