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U.S. News & World Report Names Kaweah Health's program a Best Nursing Home

  • Category: News
  • Posted On:
  • Written By: Laura Florez-McCusker

VISALIA, Calif. – For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has named Kaweah Health's Skilled Nursing Program a Best Nursing Home, a distinction shared with only 21 percent of U.S. skilled nursing facilities in the nation.

Kaweah Health's Skilled Nursing program earned Best Nursing Homes status by achieving the highest possible rating for providing short-term rehabilitation care to patients. U.S. News & World Report gives the designation of Best Nursing Home to those homes that satisfy U.S. News’s assessment of the appropriate use of key services and consistent performance in quality measures. These measures evaluate factors that most greatly affect patient and resident care, safety, and outcomes.

“This recognition validates that we provide a great service to our community, especially when it comes to skilled nursing care. We work tirelessly to provide our patients with the very best care,” said Lisa Harrold, Director of Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Services, noting that the team behind this recognition is comprised of everyone from rehab certified and specialty-trained nurses, therapists, and physicians to social workers, housekeepers and others. “We are always working to improve quality of care and that is something that we will continue to do.”

Now in its 11th year, the U.S. News Best Nursing Homes ratings and profiles offer comprehensive information about care, safety, health inspections, staffing and more for nearly all of the nation’s 15,000-plus nursing homes. This year, to accompany the new ratings, nursing home profile pages were updated to include a patient safety summary that reflects COVID-19 data alongside measures of quality including consistency of registered nurse staffing, use of antipsychotic drugs, and success in preventing falls.

“U.S. News strives to provide access to information that allows consumers to make educated decisions on all types of care,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “Updating the profiles to include a patient safety summary that highlights COVID-19 data paired with other measures of care arms families, caregivers and patients with the information needed to make a decision that keeps safety at the highest priority.” For more information behind both U.S. News ratings please refer to the FAQ.

Kaweah Health offers both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care to patients in Visalia. At its campus on South Court Street, Kaweah Health offers rehabilitation care to patients who need additional care following a hospital stay and long-term care to patients who require extensive services such as ventilator care, tube feedings, etc. Kaweah Health also provides short-term rehabilitation to patients at Kaweah Health's Rehabilitation Hospital, 840 S. Akers St., Visalia.

At Kaweah Health Rehabilitation Hospital, patients are cared for by rehab certified and specialty-trained nurses, therapists, and physicians. The hospital is also home to the only comprehensive cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation program in the South Valley, the only adult rehabilitation program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in the South Valley, and the only CARF-accredited stroke program in Tulare and Kings counties. It was also the first CARF-accredited amputation specialty program in the Central Valley.

Kaweah Health is a publicly-owned community healthcare organization that provides comprehensive health services to the greater Visalia region and Tulare County. With over 5,000 dedicated medical professionals and employees, Kaweah Health is committed to meeting the community’s health needs through state-of-the-art medicine, high-quality preventive services and specialized health centers and clinics. For more information, visit www.kaweahdelta.org.

About U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. A digital news and information company focused on Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars and News USNews.com provides consumer advice, rankings and analysis to serve people making complex decisions throughout all stages of life. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.