Best Nursing Homes In Washington: U.S. News Releases 2020 List

As health care facilities continue to face an ongoing battle against the coronavirus, several nursing homes in Washington were recognized this week for providing outstanding care in the months leading up to the pandemic, according to a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

Released on Tuesday, the 2020-21 Best Nursing Homes list rates more than 15,000 nursing facilities providing care to 1.3 million people in the United States.

The purpose of the annual Best Nursing Homes list, according to U.S. News, is to help Americans better understand their options when choosing a nursing facility for themselves or a family member.

This year’s list rated two facilities in Redmond and 81 total in Washington.

To compile rankings, U.S. News analyzed public data available through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Researchers looked at statistics on care, health inspections and staffing amid COVID-19 outbreaks, flu and pneumonia vaccination rates, infection control violations and more.

Data used in this year’s rankings represented periods between 2017 and 2019. Rate of complaints was the only measure that used data from the first three months of 2020.

More on the methodology used to compile this year’s list of best nursing homes can be found here.

Each facility was then rated on quality of long- and short-term care. Ratings range from high-performing to below average. Facilities were also assigned an overall rating on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.

Out of more than 13,400 nursing homes rated for long-term care, 1,139 were designated as high-performing. More than 14,100 facilities received a short-term rating, of which 2,362 homes earned a high-performing rating.

Here’s how nursing homes in Redmond fared:

Redmond Care and Rehabilitation Center

• Short-stay rating: High performing
• Long-stay rating: Average
• Overall rating: 4

Corwin Center at Emerald Heights

• Short-stay rating: Average
• Long-stay rating: High performing
• Overall rating: 4

This year, California has the highest number of the top-ranked nursing homes on the list. In all, 215 nursing homes in California received a high-performing rating in short-term rehabilitation, and 135 facilities were designated high-performing in long-term care.

Florida, Illinois and New Jersey follow California for the highest number of top-ranked nursing homes.

To assist Americans in gauging their best options for long- and short-term care, U.S. News this year also added a patient safety summary on each facility’s profile, which includes self-reported COVID-19 cases, safety measures taken and other related guidance concerning the pandemic.

In addition to this year’s rankings, U.S. News also published companion research focused on nursing home patient safety during COVID-19 and what to expect as nursing homes resume in-person visits.

According to public health data, at least 507 coronavirus deaths have been recorded among residents, employees or visitors at long-term care facilities in King County, accounting for 62.6 percent of all deaths linked to COVID-19 in the county during the pandemic. Among those who died, 298 were related to skilled nursing facilities, 141 to assisted living facilities and 68 to adult family homes.

The highest number of deaths, 46, occurred at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, the site of the first known outbreak of coronavirus infections in the United States. In August, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a "Safe Start" plan for long-term care facilities, guiding policies related to visitation, communal dining, group activities, testing, screening and personal protective equipment.

View this year’s full list of Best Nursing Homes here.