39 IL Nursing Homes Make 2023 U.S. News ‘Best’ List
U.S. News & World Report rated more than 15,000 nursing homes in its annual report. Here’s how it rated Illinois nursing homes.
![The rankings service rated more than 15,000 nursing homes in the country based on patient and resident outcomes, such as infection rates; staffing levels; reliance on antipsychotic drugs; health inspection results, and other quality indicators.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/52718/20231114/053549/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-616969784___14173533244.jpg)
ACROSS ILLINOIS — In Illinois, 39 nursing homes received a 5 — the highest possible rating — this year in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rating.
The rankings service rated more than 15,000 nursing homes in the country based on patient and resident outcomes, such as infection rates; staffing levels; reliance on antipsychotic drugs; health inspection results, and other quality indicators.
Here are the nursing homes that received an overall rating of five for 2024 in Illinois:
- DuPage Care Center, Wheaton
- Memorial Care Center, Belleville
- Alton Memorial Rehab & Therapy, Alton
- ProMedica Skilled Nursing – Arlington Heights, Arlington Heights
- Burgess Square Healthcare Center, Westmont
- Clark-Lindsey Village, Urbana
- Beacon Hill – Lombard, Lombard
- Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Melrose Park
- Community First Medical Center, Chicago
- Blessing Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit, Quincy
- Apostolic Christian Home of Eureka, Eureka
- West Suburban Hospital Medical Center, Oak Park
- Montgomery Place, Chicago
- Oak Trace, Downers Grove
- MacNeal Hospital Skillled Nursing Facility, Berwyn
- Dimensions Living Prospect Heights – Skilled Nursing, Prospect Heigths
- Alden Estates of Skokie, Skokie
- Wauconda Care, Wauconda
- Fair Oaks Health Care Center, Crystal Lake
- Passavant Area Hospital, Jacksonville
- Alden North Shore Rehabilitation & Health Care Center, Skokie
- Moorings of Arlington Heights, Arlington Heights
- Mercy Harvard Hospital Care Center, Harvard
- Symphony at The Tillers, Oswego
- East Bank Center, Loves Park
- Dimensions Living Burr Ridge – Skilled Nursing, Burr Ridge
- Evenglow Lodge, Pontiac
- Prairieview at The Garlands, Barrington
- Radford Green, Lincolnshire
- The Mather – Evanston, Evanston
- Hickory Point Christian Village, Forsyth
- Park Place Christian Community, Elmhurst
- Mercy Circle, Chicago
- Healthbridge of Arlington Heights, Arlington Heights
- Avondale Estates of Elgin, Elgin
- Little Sisters of the Poor, Chicago
- Thrive of Lisle, Lisle
- Thrive of Fox Valley, Aurora
- Ignite Medical – McHenry, McHenry
The authors found that nearly one in five of the evaluated nursing homes were recognized as “Best Nursing Homes” in “Short-Term Rehabilitation,” “Long-Term Care,” or both. More than 1,800 cities and towns had at least one “Best Nursing Home.”
In Illinois, 58 nursing homes were recognized as “high performing” for short stays, and 32 received the recognition for long stays.
More than 1.4 million people live in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes across the nation, Dr. Michael Tehrani, a geriatric physician and founder and CEO of MedWell Medical in Long Beach, California, told U.S. News last month. Most people who use long-term care service are at least 65 years old, with 83 percent of nursing home residents being in that older age bracket. Residents typically have a chronic condition — such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease — that requires ongoing care.
The U.S. News authors said the latest data showed that fewer than 5 percent of evaluated nursing homes met both existing staffing requirements and newly proposed staffing requirements by the Biden administration.
More than 2,500 cities and towns have at least one nursing home rated as “below average.” Furthermore, over 400 nursing homes consistently failed to have a registered nurse available for at least eight hours a day, seven days a week — as required by federal regulators — and only 701 met both existing requirements and more stringent staffing requirements recently proposed by the Biden administration, the report found.
Nursing homes that met both staffing standards are 54 times more likely to be rated a “Best Nursing Home” by U.S. News than those that consistently failed to meet the current standard, the U.S. News said in a news release. Additionally, 445 nursing homes that received 4 or 5 stars from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services were rated 1 or 2 out of 5 by U.S. News.
Methodology
U.S. News evaluated nursing homes using various quality measures from CMS. This includes data on resident care, safety, outcomes and other aspects of quality. Short- and long-term ratings include data on nurse staffing, use of antipsychotic drugs and success in preventing emergency room and hospital visits.
The long-term care rating also included measures of whether a home changed ownership and how well they were staffed on weekends.
“U.S. News’ Best Nursing Homes ratings give patients, senior residents, their families and caregivers an objective assessment of quality, to help them choose the facility that best fits their individual needs,” Daniel Lara Agudelo, health data analyst at U.S. News, said in a statement. “Nursing homes that have earned the recognition of U.S. News have a track record of achieving better outcomes for patients and residents, and maximizing the amount of care they receive from nurses and other staff.”