A new federal nursing home rating system gives top marks to the Fort Dodge Villa Care Center, which is currently fighting allegations that its staff failed to get prompt care for injured residents.
That same rating system, posted on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site, gives the Marian Home in Fort Dodge the lowest grade.
Those grades are found on the latest version of the Nursing Home Compare Web site, which uses a series of stars to rate long-term care facilities, with five out of five stars being the best score.
Fort Dodge Villa Care Center, 2721 10th Ave. N., received five out of five stars.
That facility was recently fined $18,000 by state regulators who claimed the nursing home's staff didn't quickly get treatment for residents suffering from broken bones and other injuries. The facility has filed an appeal in that case. Debra Koenig, administrator of the home, did not return a phone call seeking comment about the rating system.
At the opposite end of the rating scale is the Marian Home, 2400 Sixth Ave. N., which received just one star for its overall rating. Efforts to contact Gerald Bruenig, the administrator of that institution, were unsuccessful. The Web site shows the Marian Home getting low marks for quality measures and health inspections.
Careage of Fort Dodge, 728 14th Ave. N.; Friendship Haven, 420 Kenyon Road; and Greenleaf Health Care, 1305 N. 22nd St.; each received three out of five stars.
Jessica Beving, the administrator of Careage of Fort Dodge, said she doesn't think the federal officials who make the ratings had all of the available information about her facility.
''It doesn't really portray us,'' she said.
The rating system is a ''snapshot in time'' based on annual surveys done at nursing homes, according to Rollie Peterson, housing director at Friendship Haven and acting administrator of the Tompkins Health Center there. He said that's a flaw in the system because conditions in a facility could have changed since the last survey was done. He said professionals in the long-term care industry believe the star system may have been released to the public prematurely.
''We think we do have a great nursing facility here.'' he said.
Both regulators and local nursing home administrators say that the Web site's rating system shouldn't be the only thing people should consider when making decisions about nursing home care for a loved one.
''We do not want families to rely solely on the star system,'' said Mary Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which manages the ratings system. ''We want them to use it as a tool.''
Beving said there's no substitute for visiting nursing homes to talk to the residents and staff members.
''It's more than just a number of stars,'' she said. ''We're caring about real people here every day and trying to make their lives better.''
Peterson said anyone examining nursing home options for a loved one should use ''good old observation, interactions and relationships.''
''I think that's going to tell you a lot more,'' he said.
A version of the Nursing Home Compare Web site has existed for several years. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, pushed for its creation. Late last year the format that relies on numbers of stars was set up to make a large amount of data more user-friendly, according to Kahn.
''We believe that the star rating system is the simplest,'' she said.
Data collected by state inspectors is used to compile the ratings. There are three major categories that make up each nursing home's overall rating. Kahn said the health inspections category is given the most weight in determining a facility's overall rating.
People who become concerned by a nursing home's rating should talk to the facility's staff, Kahn said.
''They need to say, 'Here's what I read, explain this to me and tell me what you're doing about it,''' said Jeanne Yordi, Iowa's long-term care ombudsman.
Yordi said people looking for a good nursing home for a family member should check with numerous sources including her office, which is part of the state Department of Elder Affairs, and the state Department of Inspections and Appeals. She added that those people should visit the facilities.
When checking out a nursing home in person, individuals should pay attention to how the staff interacts with residents and visitors, Yordi said. She added that visitors should not be ''fooled by pretty surroundings.'' Lavish buildings, she said, could be a clue that the nursing home's owner spent too much on architecture and perhaps not enough on staffing.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
