General Information

This analysis is based on Health Deficiencies data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The data contains all inspection results from 2016 through February 2020.

There are 1,104 nursing homes in the three states: 695 in Pennsylvania, 363 in New Jersey, and 46 in Delaware. New Jersey has the most residents per facility.

Average Infection Control and Overall Scores by Owner Type

The lower the average infection deficiency count, the better. The higher the average rating, the better.

Church-related non-profits have been the best in terms of infection control. Less than one violation on average have been found. Non-profits also have higher overall ratings than government facilities, government facilities than for-profits. For-profits have been the worst. Sadly, more than half of nursing homes in the three states are for-profits.

State-by-State Comparison

Three-fourths of nusing homes in Pennsylvania have been cited for one or more infection control deficiencies. Pennsylvania also has the worst nursing homes which have been cited five or six times for the past six years.

Nursing Homes with Most Infection Control Deficiency Citations

These are facilities that have been cited most for infection control deficiencies. Top 8 are located in Pennsylvania.

Nursing Homes with Least Infection Control Deficiency Citations

Among top six facilities, five are located in New Castle County, DE. Monmouth County, NJ also have many good nursing homes.

Nursing Homes with Most Infection Control Deficiency Citations in Delaware Valley

Common characteristics of the worst nursing homes: 1) For-profits, 2) with more than 100 beds.

Nursing Homes with Least Infection Control Deficiency Citations in Delaware Valley

Common characteristics of the best nursing homes: 1) Non-profits, 2) with less than 100 beds.

Correlation between Size and Rating

Nursing homes with fewer beds have been less likely to be cited for infection control deficiencies. When you compare above two tables, you can clearly see many of the best nursing homes have fewer than 100 residents while many of the worst ones have far more than 100 residents. But I am not comfortable with using this correlation in the story as we don’t know their staffing levels.