By Tiffany Green

STAFF WRITER

The government Medicare system recently released ratings for four area nursing homes.

The nursing homes were graded on a scale from one to five stars, with five being the best. The categories are health inspections, nursing home staffing and quality measures. Overall, most Cullman area nursing homes fared well on the ratings.

Woodland Village Health Care Center received an over-all rating of four out of five stars. They received four out of five stars in health inspections and quality measures. They scored two out of five stars for staffing.

Frank Brown, owner of Woodland Village, Cullman Long Term Care and Cullman Health Care, said the ratings system is flawed.

“In typical government fashion, it doesn’t in any way measure at all how our nursing homes are,” Brown said.

Cullman Health Care Center received an overall rating of one out of five stars. They received one out of five for the health inspections and four out of five on the quality measures. There was no score available for the staffing.

“The state of Alabama failed to report any staffing for Cullman Health Care,” he said.

Brown said the failure to report the staffing resulted in the overall low rating.

“Primarily that’s a result of no staffing,” Brown said.

He said the state is now in the process of fixing the scoring they originally did not report.

“We know Cullman’s (Health Care Center’s score) will go up significantly when they do that,” he said.

He said the low health inspection rating was due to the system taking the scores from the last three years.

“They are three years old,” he said. “That’s too old. The reporting process is out of date.”

He said the health ratings have improved.

“You have a follow-up survey shortly after the first one,” he said. “We will do all we can to continually improve.”

Cullman Long Term Care and Rehabilitation Center received an overall rating of four stars and four stars for the health inspections. They received two out of four stars for the staffing and quality measures.

“They don’t measure regulations,” he said. “There’s no way that they can measure quality at all. The system wasn’t ready when it was brought out.”

Brown said his nursing homes are constantly making improvements.

“We have really good staff, really good nurses,” he said. “We work and train all the time to get better. We have good communication with area hospitals here in town.”

Brown said he is committed to providing quality care for Cullman.

“If you want to find a good nursing home, go spend some time there,” Brown said. “That’s the best way to find a good nursing home. The best tool is to talk to people there and talk to people who have had kinfolk there.”

Hanceville Nursing and Rehab Center, INC received an overall rating of four stars. Three stars for health inspections, five stars for staffing and four stars for quality measures.

“We are very blessed,” said Michael Vickers, administrator for Hanceville Nursing Home.

He said this is a new system that he feels is not perfect, but is fairly accurate.

“It is a new system that’s taking advantage of what we already knew,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but it has its benefits and advantages. I think its more accurate than not.”

Vickers said he is thankful for his great staff for continuing to provide quality care to the Cullman area.

“I think we are the best untold story,” he said. “We have a great staff that continues to improve.”

The health inspection scores are determined by a team of inspectors which conducts on-site health inspections approximately once a year. Inspectors look at the care of the residents, the process of care, staff and resident interactions and the nursing home environment. The data from the last three standard health inspections and all complaint inspections that have been conducted in the last three years are used to calculate the rating.

The next rating is based on nursing home staffing. This is self reported by the nursing home and gathered during the most recent health inspection. It includes overall staffing hours, which includes registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, licensed vocational nurses and certified nursing assistants.

To calculate the rating, the number of staff hours per resident per day was used and then the information was case-mix adjusted. Case-mix adjustments take into account the different levels of resident needs in nursing homes.

The last star is quality measures which is based on information provided by the nursing homes and comes from data the nursing homes routinely collect on all residents at specified times.

Medicare.gov advises people searching for a nursing home to not just use this rating system. They advise to go to the nursing home and visit and ask questions to the staff to learn what nursing home best suits your needs.

‰ Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 221.