Local Nursing Homes Rated

A newly released federal government ranking of Hernando County nursing homes shows four out of five facilities attaining high marks, with Brooksville Healthcare Center grabbing the coveted five-out-of-five stars for overall excellence.

Heartland of Brooksville, Heron Pointe Health and Rehab of Brooksville and Spring Hill Health and Rehab Center all received four out of five stars, signifying above average.

Only Evergreen Woods, off State Road 50 in Spring Hill, scored low on the government's rankings: One star out of five, or "much below average."

Evergreen Woods only got one star for health inspections and quality measures. It did a little better - three stars - for staffing.

Quality measures examines the percent of at-risk residents who have bed sores after their first 90 days in the nursing homes, the number of residents whose mobility worsened after admission and whether residents received proper medical care.

Nursing home administrators and even the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which conducted the report, cautioned this first-ever ranking system should not be considered the ultimate decider for families seeking care.

"Because quality and conditions within a nursing home can change at any time, this system is not intended to be the only tool families use in selecting the right nursing facility for a loved one," CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems said.

"Nursing homes can make dramatic improvements between rating periods, just as a previously highly rated home could see its quality of care deteriorate. And nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home," Weems said.

Still, its findings shouldn't be disregarded, said Wanda Moak, administrator with Brooksville Healthcare Center, which scored the highest locally.

"The system isn't perfect yet," Moak said. "They're still working out some details. But it's the best thing we've got so far."

Moak said she is obviously pleased with the superior rating and praised her staff.

"I would recommend anyone seeking nursing home placement just take the time to visit all the different nursing homes in the area," Moak said. "You can usually get a pretty good feel just walking through the building."

Ron Swonger, administrator at Evergreen Woods, said he preferred not to comment on the rankings until he had a better chance to analyze the results and become familiar with the history of the facility.

Swonger said he only took the post two weeks ago and is still settling into the job.

But any deficiencies highlighted in the report have been corrected, he said.

Meanwhile, Swonger has already taken one step to help patient care. On Tuesday, Evergreen Woods adopted two dogs from the Humane Society of the Nature Coast that will be used as pet therapy.

It's proven that pet therapy lifts the spirits of residents and helps in recovery, he said.

The CMS evaluated each of the nation's 16,000 Medicare and-or Medicaid-certified nursing homes and rated them from a low of one star to five stars based on three critical areas: State health inspection results, quality measures and staffing levels.

An overall rating was also provided.

"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," Weems said.

A team of trained health inspectors conducted, on average, about one on-site health inspection a year. Using current data, inspectors noted patient care, staff and resident interactions and the nursing home environment.

Data from the last three standard health inspections and all complaint inspections were conducted during that time to calculate the rating.

Behind The Numbers

During the period from July 1, 2007, through Sept. 30, 2008, CMS found that the 120-bed Evergreen Woods had 13 health deficiencies.

According to CMS, inspectors determined - among other things - that Evergreen Woods failed to:

•Hire only people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents.

•Store, cook and give out food in a safe and clean way.

•Make sure that residents who take drugs are not given too many doses or for too long.

•Have a program to keep infection from spreading.

CMS noted that Evergreen Woods had made corrections to the above deficiencies since the inspection was conducted.

In its ranking of quality measures, CMS found that the percent of high-risk, long-stay residents who had bed sores was 15 percent, above the national and state average of 12 and 13 percent, respectively.

The percent of long-stay residents who spend most of their time in bed or in a chair at Evergreen Woods was 14 percent, compared to 4 percent nationally and statewide.

CMS identified 10 health deficiencies at Heartland of Brooksville; eight at Heron Pointe Health and Rehab; and seven at Spring Hill Health and Rehab Center.

By comparison, Brooksville Healthcare Center, which received the highest number of stars in the report, had four health deficiencies over that same time period.

But even with its high ranking, Brooksville Health Care was not immune from problems.

For example, inspectors found during an inspection that Brooksville Health Care center failed to develop a complete care plan that meets all residents' needs.

And, as with Evergreen Woods, Brooksville Healthcare also failed to store, cook and give out food in a safe and clean way, CMS said.

Only 2 percent of high-risk, long-stay residents had bed sores during the inspector's visit and 1 percent of long-stay residents spent most of their time in bed or a chair at Brooksville Healthcare.

Health and Human Services Director Jean Rags encourages people to make unannounced visits to a nursing care facility and examine it for such things as smells, unattended patients or people not being fed in the dining room.

Ask to see some of the rooms, the level of physical therapy available and counseling offered to families, Rags said.

To view the CMS report and find the complete information on nursing homes in Hernando County, Florida and the nation, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/.

Under CMS highlights on the top right of the Web site, click on "nursing home compare five-star rating system."