ACV’s Nursing Home Receives 5-Star Rating

Good Samaritan Center, Advent Christian Village (ACV) at Dowling Park’s skilled nursing center, is excited to announce that they have received a 5-star rating from CMS, the US government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

CMS rates nursing homes on three categories:

• health inspections
• staffing
• quality-measures

The health inspection rating is based on the three most recent annual inspections. The staffing rating is based on: 1) Registered Nurse (RN) hours per resident per day and 2) total staffing hours per resident per day. The quality-measures rating is taken from clinical data reported by the nursing home. It includes information such as each resident’s health, physical functioning, mental status, and general well-being. A star rating is awarded for each of these three sources, then the three ratings are combined for an overall rating.

Good Samaritan Center (GSC) especially excelled in six areas:

1. Those who temporarily stayed at GSC for a short amount of time, generally following a short hospital stay — made significant improvement in function overall.
2. The percentage of short stays who required readmission to a hospital was low.
3. The percentage of short stays who were successfully discharged was high.
4. The percentage of long-time or permanent residents of GSC who received anti-psychotic medications was low.
5. The number of CNA hours per resident per day was high.
6. The number of LPN hours per resident per day was high.

One influence to these high marks is that Good Samaritan Center uses medications as a last resort, choosing instead to seek other means whenever possible. GSC also requires their staff to graduate from a 12-week “Artists of Dementia Care” course based on the book The Art of Dementia Care and administered by GSC’s director of nursing. The training changes how employees think about people with dementia and what they go through. It also teaches each staff member how to better help the families of those suffering with memory loss.

Another contribution is that Good Samaritan Center administration recognizes that in order to provide the level of care and service that is deserved, they must schedule nurses and CNAs above what is required by the state.

GSC Administrator and ACV Vice President of Health Services Keri Hilliard is very happy her staff has received such a high honor. “I’m proud that all of our staff work hard,” said Keri. “Our overriding goal is to provide excellent care. We are enjoying our 5-star status, but what’s important is that our residents receive excellent care.”