Due to the staff’s hard work to make Windsor Place Nursing Facility a second home for its residents, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has honored the facility a five-star rating. The announcement was made recently in U.S. News and World Report magazine.
“We had no idea we were being rated among other nursing facilities in Kansas. If it wasn’t for the fact that one of our nurses takes the magazine we probably would never have known about our superior rating,” said Linda Harrison, Windsor administrator.
Windsor Place received five stars, the highest overall rating, from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ranking it 42nd in the state from among 340 nursing homes.
According to U.S. News and World Report more than 3.2 million Americans will spend at least part of 2011 in one of the nation’s 16,000-plus nursing homes. To help families find a source of good care U.S. News ranks and displays data about nearly every U.S. nursing facility with updated information every quarter.
U.S. News rankings rely on data from Nursing Home Compare, a consumer website run by the CMS.
Nursing homes are ranked according to health inspections, nursing staff and quality measurers.
Windsor Place received three stars during its health inspections. Health inspections are necessary when a nursing home accepts Medicare and Medicaid residents. State survey teams conduct health inspections on behalf of the CMS about every 12 to 15 months. They also investigate health-related complaints from residents, their families and other members of the public.
A home’s rating is based on the number of deficiencies, their seriousness and their scope, meaning the relative number of residents who were or could have been affected.
The nursing staff at Windsor received four stars. During the inspection, each nursing facility is checked to see how many registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, licensed vocational nurses and certified nurse aides were on payroll two weeks prior to the inspection. Nurses and aides should be able to provide about four hours of care a day to each resident.
Windsor Place is a 65-bed Medicare/Medicaid facility. The current number of residents is 54. On staff are 15 nurses and 38 certified nurse’s aides and certified medical assistants.
Windsor Place received five stars in quality measures, which requires nursing homes to submit clinical data for the most recent three quarters detailing the status of each individual Medicare and Medicaid resident.
When the scores from the health inspections, nursing staff and quality measurers were combined Windsor Place was given a five-star rating.
Unlike some nursing facilities Windsor lets its residents, for the most part, set their own schedules.
“We want Windsor to be the residents’ home. We want them to feel they have choices whether it is when they go to bed or when they eat,” said Teresa Edwards, director of nursing at Windsor.
Windsor Place earns five-star rating
