18 Oct Maple Lawn Makes National Best Nursing Homes List
News & World Report, a leader in the evaluation and rating of health care providers across the country, has identified its Best Nursing Homes for 2016-2017. Among those recognized as one of the nation’s best nursing homes was Maple Lawn Nursing Home of Fulda.
To create its free and easy-to-use resources, U.S. News evaluated more than 15,000 homes nationwide, across each state and in 100 major metropolitan areas. This year, just over 2,000 nursing homes earned the designation of a U.S. News Best Nursing Home.
“Several million Americans will spend at least some time in a nursing home this year, whether undergoing rehab after a hospital stay or as long-term residents, “said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News. “Finding a nursing home that meets an individual’s specific needs can be challenging for families. Our nursing home ratings are designed to help potential residents and their loved ones navigate this difficult process.”
The U.S. News Nursing Home Finder offers comprehensive information about care, safety, health inspections, staffing and more for nearly every nursing home in the country. With this tool, individuals can easily conduct a customized search for a highly rated nursing home by location, distance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage, and size.
Since its inception in 2009, U.S. News nursing home ratings have relied on data from Nursing Home Compare, a program run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes. This year, U.S. News updated its methodology to give users a better sense of how homes perform over time and to determine whether a home provides appropriate rehabilitation services.
The 2,000-plus nursing homes that earned the designation of a U.S News & World Report Best Nursing Home for 2016-2017 represent about 13 percent of all homes and reflect a 41 percent decrease from last year. That is due in large part to the updated methodology. For the second year in a row, California has the highest number of homes on the list, followed by Ohio and Florida. Washing, D.C., Colorado and Delaware have the highest proportion of Best Nursing Homes as compared to the total number of homes evaluated.
“Every year we strive to improve upon the information we offer to our users making critical decisions,” says Ben Harder, Chief Health Analyst. “With our new methodology, we have taken several steps to ensure that nursing homes that consistently perform well are high-lighted.”