One in 5 local nursing homes receive lowest ranking

Nearly twice as many nursing homes in the Rio Grande Valley have received the federal government's lowest accountability rating as have received its highest.

The new ratings system, released by Medicare last month, provides a startling look at the state of nursing home care in a region where almost 10 percent of residents are over the age of 65.

More than one in five nursing homes in the four-county Rio Grande Valley has the worst possible rating.

The database of ratings, available at www.medicare.gov/

NHCompare, provides a look at Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes nationwide. Homes are assigned a rating between 5 stars, or "much above average," and 1 star, or "much below average."

Of the seven homes that received the 1-star rating, six are affiliates of Georgia-based SavaSeniorCare, which operates nursing homes nationwide.

Locally, SavaSeniorCare subsidiaries owns five Retama Manor homes that received a 1-star rating, as well as the Las Palmas Healthcare Center in McAllen, which also received the worst rating possible.

Many of the chain's 60 homes across the state also received poor ratings.

Briarcliff Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in McAllen received the worst rating as well. That center is owned by a subsidiary of California-based Skilled Healthcare Group.

The ratings also reveal the limited options of Starr and Willacy county residents when it comes to selecting a nursing home.

Raymondville's 1-star Retama is the only Medicare/Medicaid nursing home in Willacy County.

And besides the 1-star Retama Manor in Rio Grande City, the only other Medicare/Medicaid home in Starr County is the 2-star Rio Grande City Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Medicare provides the ratings to give people a "snapshot" of the quality of care individual nursing homes can provide.

The government assigns each nursing home an "overall rating" based on three separate factors: nursing staffing levels, inspection reports and quality measures, such as the percentage of residents who become depressed or incontinent.

Standards for homes vary by states, but the guide should be an accurate way to compare homes within any individual state, according to Medicare.

In a September report, inspectors determined that Weslaco's Retama Manor home failed to "provide care in a way that keeps or builds each resident's dignity and self respect."

Inspectors at McAllen's Briarcliff found that staff failed to "keep each resident free from physical restraints, unless for medical treatment" in 2007.

The rating system has not been without controversy. Consumer groups praise the concept of the ratings themselves but complain that much of the data used to create the ratings, such as staffing levels, is self-reported.

On the other hand, nursing home trade groups say the ratings system isn't an accurate gauge of nursing home quality. They argue that staffing figures in the database only provide a snapshot in time and inspection reports can be inconsistent.

In a statement released just prior to the database's release, the Association of Homes and Services for the Aging called the system "poorly planned, prematurely implemented and ham-handedly rolled out."

Melody Chatelle, a spokeswoman for the area's SavaSeniorCare homes, said in a written statement the company is concerned that the method and data used for the rating system "is inaccurate and inconsistently applied on a number of levels."

She said the system relies on historical data and not real-time figures, and the staffing figures are used inconsistently and cannot be routinely verified.

The most important way to evaluate the quality of care is by visiting a home and observing care given by staff and volunteers first hand, she said.

"We are proud of the quality of care and the quality of life that our staff strives to provide on a daily basis, and we appreciate the opportunity to serve as an important part of this community," she wrote.

Chatelle is also a spokeswoman for Briarcliff. In a separate statement released on behalf of that home, Chatelle said the home is "proud of the quality of care our associates strive to deliver on a daily basis"

She said the ratings system relies on small sample sizes that "may not accurately reflect the true quality of services provided in any long-term care center. "

Patrick Eronini, administrator for the San Juan Nursing Home, said he believes the ratings are good for the industry and will allow families and residents to make good choices.

His nursing home, a non-profit affiliated with the Diocese of Brownsville, was one of just two 5-star homes in Hidalgo County. McAllen Transitional Care was the other.

Eronini said the key to running a good nursing home is having consistent personnel who continuously receive training.

"It's not just a routine job," Eronini said. "Those who work here believe in it. They do it because they're committed to it."

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Ryan Holeywell covers McAllen, PSJA, the Mid-Valley and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.