Twelve of 15 Valley nursing facilities — eight in Northumberland County — still fall far short on quality of care, according to a comparison system the federal government introduced two years ago, while three centers stand out as average or better.
Six nursing facilities in Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties rated just one star, or much below average, in the five-star quality rating system the federal government unveiled in 2008, according to a search on Medicare.gov’s Nursing Home Compare website.
Coming in at just one star are Kramm Healthcare Center, in Milton; Mount Carmel Nursing and Rehabilitation, in Mount Carmel; and Mountain View, A Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Coal Township. The other three are Grandview Health Homes Inc., in Danville; the Manor at Penn Village, in Selinsgrove; and Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village, in Lewisburg.
Earning a two-star, or below-average, rating are Golden Living Center Mansion, in Sunbury; Kramm Nursing Home, in Watsontown; Manor Care Health Services, in Sunbury; Nottingham Village, in Northumberland; and Sunbury Community Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facility. Rolling Hills Manor, in Millmont, also came in at two stars.
Three centers rank average or better. Emmanuel Center for Nursing, in Danville; and Shamokin Area Community Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facility both have four stars, or are above average. RiverWoods, in Lewisburg, is at three stars, an average rating and an improvement over its one-star rank in 2008.
In December 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) debuted the quality ratings system for the nation’s nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. Ratings are based on health inspection surveys, staffing information and quality-of-care measures — three areas considered crucial to facility performance, according to an expert panel that worked with CMS in creating the system.
The most heavily weighted issue is how the nursing home fares in health inspections, said Mary Kahn, senior public affairs specialist for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“It’s an incredibly detailed look at nursing homes’ health and safety: administration of medications, incidents of avoidable issues like bed sores, whether residents decline in an unexpected way,” such as someone whose condition deteriorates markedly, she said.
“We’ve gotten a great deal of positive feedback on Nursing Home Compare,” Kahn said. “It’s the only truly exhausting evaluation of nursing homes in the country.”
But the system isn’t without controversy, and many involved with nursing facilities — from officials to residents themselves — say the system doesn’t account for everything.
RiverWoods, for instance, bettered its ranking in part by increasing its number of registered nurses, who have more education, over licensed practical nurses, said administrator Tony Cooper.
Brendan O’Naughton, business manager of the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, said his group has clients “who’ve expressed frustration with the system,” mainly regarding certain incidents that show up on surveys. Most are one-time incidents that are solved, but then have a negative impact on a facility’s score. “The negative rating kind of persists, and it can be hard to overcome,” he said.
Which brings up a point on which everyone agrees: Visit the nursing home to make a sound decision.
Don’t use the rating system as a sole source of quality information, said Dennis Steele, of MemberoftheFamily.net.
“When looking at the data for any home, it is important to look at the trend evidenced by the past three survey results,” Steele said. “Although there is no guarantee that a home today will mirror its survey snapshot from the past, the trend may indicate whether or not a home is improving or getting worse results,” as is the case with RiverWoods, which got better.
“From what I understand, the rating system isn’t always entirely representative of the environment of an individual nursing home,” O’Naughton said. “Take a tour, talk to people, get a feel for the environment.”
Kahn, of CMS, agreed.
“It’s important for families to keep in mind that the star rating is not an absolute or ultimate predictor of an experience,” she said. “Do not use it as a sole deciding factor” but as a resource for what facility you choose. “Make notes and download the information. Then go to the place. Go to the administrator and say, I see you don’t score well in staff ratios; do you have plans to hire more workers? Or I see you have a low rank in food handling operations; what steps are you taking to correct that?”
Pennsylvania is not alone in troubled and untroubled nursing facilities. Nationally, 22 percent of the country’s nearly 16,000 nursing homes have the lowest ranking.
“We have been looking at nursing home quality of care for 12 years now,” said Steele, of of MemberoftheFamily.net. “In a word, we have seen virtually no significant improvements in that care. It is very difficult to make a statement relative to any particular state on a stand-alone basis.”
MemberoftheFamily.net is a group that keeps information on the country’s nursing homes. Of the 15 centers in the Valley, six are listed on its national watch list, composed of homes “cited for violations or that have substantiated complaints made against them,” according to information on the website. It also keeps an honor roll of the best facilities; of the four named for Pennsylvania, the most local is Schuylkill Center in Pottsville.
Calls to Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village and Nottingham Village were not returned by press time. Mountain View referred comment to its corporate communications office, which did not respond by press time.
