America’s Best Nursing Homes 2025 One of the challenges of aging is finding the right care from sources that you trust—you want to know that you or your loved ones are in good hands during a new phase of life. Nursing homes can provide crucial services for those who need general care or medical assistance in their day-to-day lives. In fact, there were an estimated 1.2 million nursing home residents across the country in 2023, according to global data research firm Statista. That number is expected to increase.

To assist seniors and their loved ones in considering long-term care options, Newsweek and Statista are partnering for the fourth year to rank America’s Best Nursing Homes 2025. This year’s list recognizes 1,050 nursing homes across the 25 states with the highest number of facilities, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data. The top nursing homes in each state were assessed and ranked based on four pillars: performance data, recommendations of medical professionals, accreditations and resident satisfaction.

Read More: https://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/area/ca/empress-care-center-056026

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The overall star rating is a composite of the three individual star rating dimensions. The core of the overall rating is the health inspection rating, which is adjusted up if the facility receives very high staffing or QM ratings, and is adjusted down for low staffing or QM ratings.

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What are the components of the Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Quality Rating System?

The rating system features an Overall Quality Rating of one to five-stars based on facility performance on three types of performance measures, each of which has its own five-star rating:

Health Inspections Rating: Measures based on outcomes from State health inspections: Nursing homes that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs have an unannounced, onsite comprehensive inspection, also called a survey, about once per year. CMS bases facility ratings for the health inspection domain on the number, scope, and severity of deficiencies identified during the three most recent annual standard inspections, as well as on substantiated findings from complaint investigations during the most recent 36 months.

Staffing Rating: Measures based on nursing home staffing levels: CMS bases facility staffing ratings on two components: 1) Registered nurse (RN) hours per resident day; and 2) total staffing hours (RN+ licensed practical nurse (LPN) + nurse aide hours) per resident day. The staffing measures are case-mix adjusted for different levels of resident care needs across nursing homes

Quality Measures Rating: Measures based on resident-level quality measures (QMs): Facility ratings for the quality measures are based on performance on 11 (8 long-stay and 3 short-stay) of the 18 QMs that CMS currently posts on the Nursing Home Compare web site. The QMs use data from the Minimum Data Set (MDS), which each nursing 1 home submits as part of a federally mandated process for clinical assessment of all residents in Medicare or Medicaid certified nursing homes.

Overall Rating: The overall star rating is a composite of the three individual star rating dimensions. The core of the overall rating is the health inspection rating, which is adjusted up if the facility receives very high staffing or QM ratings, and is adjusted down for low staffing or QM ratings.

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Understanding Long-Term Care Rating

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Any visitor entering the facility, regardless of you vaccination status, must adhere to the following:

• Be screened for fever and COVID-19 symptoms, wear appropriate facial covering, and perform hand hygiene when in the facility
• If personal protective equipment (PPE) is required for contact with the resident due to quarantine or COVID positive isolation status (including fully vaccinated visitors), it must be donned and doffed according to instruction by HCP
• If a visitor has COVID-19 symptoms or has been in close contact with a confirmed positive case, they must reschedule their visit

Visitors who are unable to adhere to the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention (masking, hand washing, social distancing) should not be permitted to visit or will be asked to leave.

Indoor visitation:

• Visitors in Tier 1 (Purple) counties for fully vaccinated residents must test negative on a POC antigen or PCR test on a sample taken within the prior two days, regardless of the visitor’s vaccination status.
• All visitors and residents should wear appropriate facial covering during their visit and should maintain 6-ft physical distancing. Fully vaccinated visitors of fully vaccinated residents may have brief, limited physical contact with the resident (e.g., a brief hug, holding hands, assisting with feeding or grooming).
• Visits for residents who share a room will be conducted in a separate indoor space or with the roommate not present in the room (if possible), regardless of the roommate’s vaccination status.
• Full PPE must be worn for yellow zone visitation.

Outdoor Visitation:

Outdoor visits pose a lower risk of transmission due to increased space and airflow; therefore, outdoor visitation is still preferred.

• Outdoor visits will be permitted with appropriate facial covering during the visit and generally maintaining 6-ft physical distancing. Fully vaccinated visitors of fully vaccinated residents may have brief, limited physical contact with the resident with the resident (e.g., a brief hug, holding hands).

This is based on guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  the Centers for MediCare and MediCaid Services (CMS) and the Santa Clara County Dept. of Public Health. For assistance with arranging visits please call Wilma at (408) 287-0616.

Testing

We are currently testing both residents and staff based on guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the current community spread in Santa Clara County.

Residents – All residents are to be tested once a month.

Staff – All staff are to be tested two (2) times a week.

Contracted Healthcare Providers – All contracted healthcare providers entering the facility are being screened for having currently negative COVID-19 test results within the last 7 days.

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