195 PA Nursing Homes Among Nation's Best: U.S. News

PENNSYLVANIA — A new study analyzing long and short term care facilities around the country found that Pennsylvania is among the nation's leaders in the overall number of "high performing" nursing homes.

This comes as the state's healthcare system continues to recover from the impacts of the COVID pandemic and despite concern at facilities around the state over staffing issues, overcrowding, and violations of basic safety requirements.

U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Nursing Homes analyzed how facilities stack up on staffing, infections that can lead to hospitalization, and other issues. Among 683 nursing homes in Pennsylvania, 112 long-term and 83 short-term care facilities were ranked as “high performing.” A grand total of 195 facilities statewide received the top ratings in both categories.

Meanwhile, a total of 48 nursing homes in Pennsylvania received “below average” ratings, scoring only 1 or 2 on a 5-point scale. That included 24 each in the short term and long term categories. Most homes landed in the “average” range with scores of 3 or 4.

However, according to the Department of Health's reports, residents in many homes are not receiving basic care due to staffing issues. Dozens of homes have been sanctioned by the state. At Blair County's Morrison's Cove Home, for instance, residents who struggle with walking on their own or who are in restorative and rehabilitative programs are given a set schedule to complete their exercise with a nurse. But in many cases, it's not happening; enough for officials to call it a "pattern."

"I love to walk and talk," one resident told inspectors . "They have not been walking me in the hallways lately. I think that sometimes they do not have the staff."

Mark Parkinson, President and CEO American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, said that such staffing issues require intervention from the government.

“As many caregivers are getting burned out by the pandemic, workers are leaving the field for jobs in other health care settings or other industries altogether," he said. “We desperately need the help of policymakers to attract and retain more caregivers, so that our nation’s most vulnerable have access to the long term care they need.”

Poor working conditions in Pennsylvania long term healthcare facilities have also led to strikes. In August, employees at 24 different nursing homes around Pennsylvania walked out in protest of low wages, few benefits, working conditions, staffing issues, and what they say is a failure to bargain in good faith, the union representing them said.

The union says the employees are not seeing the benefits of the $600 million in funding for wages and resident care which they received following the pandemic.

"We have been the backbone of our nursing home and struggled through COVID – many of us brought COVID home to our families and one of our coworkers even died," Donna Pronio, a CNA in northeast Pennsylvania, added. "Yet they can’t even offer us healthcare we can afford.”

In the U.S. News study, California led all states with 206 nursing homes ranked as high performing in short-term care and 148 in long-term care. Pennsylvania was among those shortly following with the highest number of high performing ratings, along with Florida and Texas.

About 1.1 million people a year over age 85 live in America’s 1,500 nursing homes, which are also often called other names including "skilled nursing facilities" or "post- and sub-acute care facilities."

The performance ratings are based on data retrieved from reports nursing homes are required to submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid data. Specifically:

• The ratings for both short-and long-term care take into account the consistency of registered nurse staffing, the use of antipsychotic drugs, and success in preventing emergency room and hospital visits.
• The long-term care rating also includes measures of whether a nursing home changed ownership and how well they were staffed on weekends.
• The short-term rehabilitation rating also includes measures of a nursing home’s success in preventing falls, preventing serious infections and making sure residents are able to return home.

Read more about U.S. News' methodology online here.