22 Alabama Nursing Homes Make U.S. News 'Best' Ratings

U.S. News & World Report’s annual ratings of the best nursing homes in the country include 22 in Alabama. Just under 3,000 nursing homes in the country earned the designation of being a “U.S. News Best Nursing Home” for 2019-20.

Homes were given an overall rating, a rating for short-term rehabilitation care and a new rating this year that evaluates long-term care.

“This year, we introduced a long-term care rating,” Zach Adams, a senior health data analyst at U.S. News, told Patch. “This is for people who need ongoing daily assistance in stuff like health-related and personal care.”

The overall ratings for nursing homes in 2019-20 are based exclusively on the short-term and long-term care ratings, Adams said.

A strong emphasis was placed on staffing in methodology to compile the “U.S. News Best Nursing Home” ranking for 2019-20. Adams said staffing levels are strongly associated with quality and safety.

“We think everyone deserves to get the right amount of time and attention,” Adams said, explaining that the publication measured the percentage of days a nursing home met the federal standards for registered nurse staffing. In addition to having sufficient staff overall, the publication wanted to make sure nursing homes are still meeting some threshold on their less well-staffed days.

Patient outcomes — both positive and negative — are also a key part of the methodology.

In Alabama, four homes received an overall high-performing rating, 12 homes received a high-performing rating for short-term care and 10 homes received a high-performing rating for long-term care.

Here are all the Alabama nursing homes rated as “high-performing”:

1. Lauderdale Christian Nursing Home (high-performing in long-term care)
2. East Alabama Medical Center Skilled Nursing Facility (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation)
3. Crowne Health Care of Springhill (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation)
4. Aspire Physical Recovery Center of West Alabama (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation)
5. Coosa Valley Nursing Facility (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
6. Hatley Health Care (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
7. Mitchell–Hollingsworth Nursing & Rehabilitation (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
8. West Gate Village (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
9. Terrace Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
10. NHC Healthcare — Anniston high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
11. Crowne Health Care of Citronelle (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
12. Clay County Nursing Home (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
13. John Knox Manor II (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
14. Falkville Health Care Center (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
15. Mobile Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
16. Brookdale University Park Skilled Nursing Facility (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
17. Westside Terrace Health & Rehabilitation Center (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
18. St. Martin’s in the Pines (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
19. Willowbrooke Court Skilled Care Center at Magnolia Trace (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
20. Galleria Woods Skilled Nursing Facility (average in short-term rehabilitation, high-performing in long-term care)
21. Charlton Place Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)
22. Aspire Physical Recovery Center at Cahaba River (high-performing in short-term rehabilitation, average in long-term care)

“Our ratings are really a starting point that we think should be used in conjunction with other sources,” Adams said, stressing that the ratings aren’t a replacement for site visits.

But for those who don’t have the time and resources to conduct such an in-depth search, Adams said U.S. News wants to offer people a really rich set of information that’s both easy to use, understandable and applicable to their situation.

>>>See U.S. News’ nursing home finder.

U.S. News used data collected and published by the federal government to develop the nursing home ratings. (Read more about the methodology.)