Maine nursing homes fare well in national ranking
More than 30 senior care facilities in Maine were awarded a rating of “high performing” by U.S. News & World Report in its annual evaluations of the country's best nursing homes.
A total of 93 Maine nursing homes were rated, and Maine was one of only seven states where at least one-third of the facilities received the publication's highest rating.
“Despite the pandemic, Maine’s nursing homes continue to focus on high quality care for our most vulnerable citizens. Maine’s high staffing standards contribute to these quality ratings, and we applaud the long-term care workforce for its ongoing commitment to the residents they serve,” said Angela Cole Westhoff, president and CEO of the Maine Health Care Association.
Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia also made the cut, based on their numbers of Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing homes receiving a “high-performing” designation in either short-term rehabilitation or long-lerm care, the magazine said.
The 12th edition of the U.S. News Best Nursing Homes combined comprehensive information about care, COVID-19 vaccination requirements for residents and staff, flu and pneumonia vaccination rates, and infection control violations listed on the resident safety summary.
The methodology included an emphasis on homes meeting certain standards of patient safety, which could limit a home's ability to achieve a 'high-performing' rating. These standards include a minimum threshold for the staff COVID-19 vaccination rate, overuse of antipsychotic drugs and frequent visits to the emergency department, among other criteria.
Homes that had below a 75% COVID-19 staff vaccination rate were not considered a leading facility. For that reason, a significant percentage of short-term rehabilitation and long-term care programs that would otherwise have qualified as "high performing" were downgraded at the time of publication, U.S. News said.
At least three Maine nursing homes have closed amid staffing shortages during the pandemic. Island Nursing Home and Care Center on Deer Isle, Country Manor in Coopers Mills and the Somerset Rehabilitation and Living Center in Bingham all announced plans to close.
Maine hospitals and long-term care facilities were slated to get $146 million in state and federal funding to help fill worker shortages driven by the pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services said in September.
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