70+ PA Nursing Homes Top 2023’s U.S. News ‘Best’ List

PENNSYLVANIA — More than 70 Pennsylvania 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.

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 Pennsylvania, 41 of the state’s 74 top nursing homes were recognized as “high performing” for both long and short stays.

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

• Phoebe Allentown Health Care Center, Allentown
• Simpson House, Philadelphia
• Chandler Hall Health Services, Newtown
• Moravian Manor, Lititz
• William Hood Dunwoody Care Center, Newtown Square
• Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community
• Calvary Fellowship Homes, Lancaster
• Bethany Village Retirement Center, Mechanicsburg
• Messiah Lifeways at Messiah Village, Mechanicsburg
• Pennswood Village, Newtown
• Willowbrooke Court at Southampton
• The Community at Rockhill, Sellersville
• The Mennonite Home - Lancaster
• Masonic Village at Elizabethtown
• Pickering Manor Home, Newtown
• Wesley Village - Pittston
• United Zion Retirement Community, Lititz
• Spiritrust Lutheran - The Village at Gettysburg
• Peter Becker Community, Harleysville
• Frederick Living - Cedarwood, Frederick
• Willowbrooke Court Skilled Care Center at Normandy Farms Estates, Blue Bell
• The Williamsport Home
• Homestead Village, Lancaster
• Meadowood - Worcester Township, Lansdale
• Valley View Haven, Belleville
• Landis Homes, Lititz
• Lutheran Community at Telford
• St. Anne's Retirement Community, Columbia
• Little Flower Manor, Darby
• The Lebanon Valley Home, Annville
• Health Care Center at White Horse Village, Newtown Square
• Foxdale Village, State College
• Barclay Friends, West Chester
• Ephrata Manor
• Manchester Commons of Presbyterian Seniorcare, Erie
• Country Meadows Nursing Center of Bethlehem
• Garden Spot Village, New Holland
• The Watermark at Bellingham Park Lane, West Chester
• Moravian Village of Bethlehem
• The Health Center at the Hill at Whitemarsh, Lafayette Hill
• Maple Farm, Akron

Search all Pennsylvania nursing homes to see individual rankings.

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.”