Posted by Andy Alt on August 4, 2009
The Northfield News published a story titled Nursing homes ranked average and above (by Suzanne Rook, July 31, 2009).
As mentioned in the article, the source of the rankings was an audit done by the State of Minnesota.
Northfield City Hospital & Nsg
Pat Vincent, CEO at Three Links, called the report card “just numbers and stars “ and a “snapshot on a given day.”
She and Nordine point to rankings done by an independent agency, My Interview, which grades Three Links and Northfield Care Center in the top10 percent of nursing homes nationally.
The DOH cautions consumers to use the report card as one source of information when selecting a nursing home. The department suggests consumers talk with family, friends and staff members and visit the facility before choosing a home.
As noted in the above excerpt from Rook’s article, having additional sources of information is important. Nursing homes in Northfield are also ranked by Medicare and can be viewed on Medicare’s page at http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/SearchCriteriaNEW.asp?version=default&browser=Firefox|3|UNIX&language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home&CookiesEnabledStatus=True
Due to the design of the site, I’m not able to link directly to any results, but here is a current “snapshot.” Click on the thumbnail image below for an enlarged picture. (Use the link above to go to Medicare’s site and view the full results.)
Unfortunately, the date of the last survey/audit is not displayed with the Medicare rankings.
Andy Alt
Meander
