34 NJ Nursing Homes Top 2023’s U.S. News ‘Best’ List

NEW JERSEY — Nearly three dozen New Jersey nursing homes received a 5 — the highest possible rating — this year in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rating.

The rankings service rated more than 15,000 nursing homes in the country based on patient and resident outcomes, such as infection rates, staffing levels, reliance on antipsychotic drugs, health inspection results, and other quality indicators.

Here are the 34 nursing homes that received an overall rating of five for 2024 in New Jersey:

• Care One at Somerset Valley, Bound Brook
• Heath Village, Hackettstown
• Willowbrooke Court Skilled Care at Evergreens, Moorestown
• St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, Lawrenceville
• Woodcliff Lake Health & Rehabilitation Center, Woodcliff Lake
• Medford Leas, Medford
• Care Connection Rahway
• Hunterdon Care Center, Flemington
• Parker at Somerset
• Care One at Cresskill
• Inglemoor Rehabilitation and Care Center of Living, Livingston
• Emerson Health Care Center
• Job Haines Home for Aged People, Bloomfield
• Shady Lane Gloucester County Home, Clarksboro
• Wiley Mission, Marlton
• New Jersey Eastern Star Home, Bridgewater
• Care One at Ridgewood Avenue, Paramus
• The Elms of Cranbury
• Lutheran Social Ministries at Crane's Mill, West Caldwell
• Hackensack Meridian Health Care Center - Prospect Heights, Hackensack
• Care One at Evesham, Marlton
• Care One at East Brunswick
• Care One at Wayne Skilled Nursing Facility
• Care One at Moorestown
• Community Medical Center Transitional Care Unit - Toms River
• Cedar Crest - Mountainview Gardens, Pompton Plains
• Lions Gate, Vorhees
• Meridian Sub-Acute Rehabilitation, Wall
• Care One at Teaneck
• Barnert Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Center, Paterson
• Atrium Post-Acute Care of Woodbury
• Continuing Care at Lantern Hill, New Providence
• Atrium Post-Acute Care of Livingston
• Winchester Gardens Health Care Center, Maplewood

Search all New Jersey nursing homes to see individual rankings.

The authors found that nearly one in five of the evaluated nursing homes were recognized as “Best Nursing Homes” in “Short-Term Rehabilitation,” “Long-Term Care,” or both. More than 1,800 cities and towns had at least one “Best Nursing Home.”

In New Jersey, all 34 top nursing homes were recognized as “high performing” for short stays, and 16 received recognition for both long and short stays.

The nursing homes considered high-performing in both categories were:

• Heath Village, Hackettstown
• Woodcliff Lake Health & Rehabilitation Center, Woodcliff Lake
• Hunterdon Care Center, Flemington
• Parker at Somerset
• Inglemoor Rehabilitation and Care Center of Living, Livingston
• Emerson Health Care Center
• Shady Lane Gloucester County Home, Clarksboro
• Wiley Mission, Marlton
• New Jersey Eastern Star Home, Bridgewater
• Care One at Ridgewood Avenue, Paramus
• The Elms of Cranbury
• Care One at Evesham, Marlton
• Care One at East Brunswick
• Cedar Crest - Mountainview Gardens, Pompton Plains
• Lions Gate, Vorhees
• Continuing Care at Lantern Hill, New Providence

More than 1.4 million people live in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes across the nation, Dr. Michael Tehrani, a geriatric physician and founder and CEO of MedWell Medical in Long Beach, California, told U.S. News last month. Most people who use long-term care service are at least 65 years old, with 83 percent of nursing home residents being in that older age bracket. Residents typically have a chronic condition — such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease — that requires ongoing care.

The U.S. News authors said the latest data showed that fewer than 5 percent of evaluated nursing homes met both existing staffing requirements and newly proposed staffing requirements by the Biden administration.

More than 2,500 cities and towns have at least one nursing home rated as “below average.” Furthermore, over 400 nursing homes consistently failed to have a registered nurse available for at least eight hours a day, seven days a week — as required by federal regulators — and only 701 met both existing requirements and more stringent staffing requirements recently proposed by the Biden administration, the report found.

Nursing homes that met both staffing standards are 54 times more likely to be rated a “Best Nursing Home” by U.S. News than those that consistently failed to meet the current standard, the U.S. News said in a news release. Additionally, 445 nursing homes that received 4 or 5 stars from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services were rated 1 or 2 out of 5 by U.S. News.

Methodology

U.S. News evaluated nursing homes using various quality measures from CMS. This includes data on resident care, safety, outcomes and other aspects of quality. Short- and long-term ratings include data on nurse staffing, use of antipsychotic drugs and success in preventing emergency room and hospital visits.

The long-term care rating also included measures of whether a home changed ownership and how well they were staffed on weekends.

“U.S. News’ Best Nursing Homes ratings give patients, senior residents, their families and caregivers an objective assessment of quality, to help them choose the facility that best fits their individual needs,” Daniel Lara Agudelo, health data analyst at U.S. News, said in a statement. “Nursing homes that have earned the recognition of U.S. News have a track record of achieving better outcomes for patients and residents, and maximizing the amount of care they receive from nurses and other staff.