Raritan Nursing Home Receives Below Average Rating From U.S. News

RARITAN, NJ — A Raritan nursing home was among 24 in New Jersey to receive the lowest rating in a recently released U.S. News & World Report publication that evaluated nursing homes across the country.

Rehabilitation at River's Edge at 633 Route 28 in Raritan received a 1 out of 3 rating or Below Average rating for long-term care and a 2 out of 3 rating for Average short-term care.

Delving deeper into the ratings, the home had a higher number of hospitalizations for its patients with an average of 2.5 hospitalizations per thousand resident days versus the New Jersey average of 1.8 for long-term care.

Emergency room visits were also higher for long-term and short-term care with 1.2 per thousand resident days over the 0.7 for the state average for long-term care. Short-term care also reported 12.9 percent of patients who needed to go to an ER during their stay over the state average of 8.1 percent.

There were also a higher level of substantiated complaints, according to U.S. News.

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.

Additionally, Rehabilitation at River's Edge also previously received a one-star rating by the federal government earlier this year. Read more: 29 NJ Nursing Homes Receive Lowest Rating From Federal Gov't

To see the full list of all 24 NJ nursing homes that received a low rating, click here.

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