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

BROOKFIELD,WI— As health care facilities continue to face an ongoing battle against the coronavirus, several nursing homes in Wisconsin 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 4 facilities in Brookfield and 354 total in Wisconsin.

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 Brookfield fared:

Brookfield Rehabilitation and Specialty Care Center

• Short-stay rating: Average
• Long-stay rating: Average
• Overall rating: 3 out of 5

Care Age of Brookfield

• Short-stay rating: High Performing
• Long-stay rating: Average
• Overall rating: 4 out of 5

Franciscan Woods

• Short-stay rating: High Performing
• Long-stay rating: Average
• Overall rating: 4 out of 5

Congregational Home

• Short-stay rating: High Performing
• Long-stay rating: High Performing
• Overall rating: 5 out of 5

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.

In Wisconsin, 2,778 active coronavirus cases traced to nursing homes. Many major outbreaks of the virus were first tied to nursing homes across the country as the disease spread easily among elderly residents who were more vulnerable to its effects. In Wisconsin, the state imposed strict visitation rules. According to the State Department of Health Services:

• Long-term care facility total: Among the 1,289 public health investigations in long-term care facilities, 418 facilities have had single confirmed cases and 799 facilities have had less than 5 confirmed cases. The median number of confirmed cases per investigation for long-term care facilities is 3, the average is 8, and the range is 1 to 117 confirmed cases.
• Skilled nursing facility (nursing homes) total: there have been a total of 506 public health investigations at nursing homes (active and closed investigations) including 272 active investigations.

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.

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