The Glen at Aberdeen Heights on Best Nursing Home list

Aberdeen Heights’ skilled nursing center is making another appearance on the U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Homes 2020-21 list.

For the third consecutive year, the campus will appear on the long-term care list and on the short-term rehabilitation list for the second consecutive year. The senior living community’s The Glen health care center received the highest score of High Performing to make the lists.

The Glen at Aberdeen Heights has 38 health care rooms and offers both long-term care and short-term rehabilitation. The Aberdeen Heights campus also offers independent living, assisted living and memory care in Kirkwood. The senior living community is part of the PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America) network of senior living communities.

U.S. News uses information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the government agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes and skilled nursing centers. CMS assigns one to five stars to each community for how well it performs in health inspections, nurse staffing and level of quality care.

Over the past two years, U.S. News changed its focus from the CMS star ratings to specific quality measures for short-term rehabilitation and long-term care. The 10 quality measures focus on staffing, outcomes, resident complaints and processes of care. Some of the measures used by U.S. News are not included in the CMS approach to determining 5-star ratings.

U.S. News added the Short-Term Rehabilitation rating in 2018 evaluating the care delivered to patients after a hospitalization for surgery, heart attack, stroke, injury or similar condition. In 2019, U.S. News added a Long-Term Care rating evaluating the care delivered to residents who are no longer able to live independently and need help with daily activities such as eating, getting in or out of bed or a wheelchair, using stairs, or getting dressed, as well as administering needed medical care.

In order to be included on the U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Homes list, a skilled nursing center had to receive the High Performing designation in either the short-term rehabilitation or long-term care categories. In 2020, CMS awarded 5-stars to 3,689 skilled nursing centers. A total of 3,277 skilled nursing centers were recognized as Best Nursing Homes in 2020 – 2,362 in short-term rehabilitation and 1,623 in long-term care. Just 708 skilled nursing communities received this designation in both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care.

Aberdeen Heights has appeared on the new short-term rehabilitation list twice, and on the long-term care list seven times since 2011. Aberdeen Heights is a community in the PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America) system.

“Our employees continue to focus their efforts on delivering quality care every day,” said PMMA President and CEO Bruce Shogren. “The High Performing designation confirms their good work.”

In addition to Aberdeen Heights, six PMMA locations are on the honoree list with the High Performing designation for long-term care: Aberdeen Village (Olathe), Arkansas City, Emporia, Lawrence, Topeka and Wichita in Kansas. Communities recognized on the short-stay rehab list in addition to Aberdeen Heights are Aberdeen Village (Olathe), Manor of the Plains (Dodge City) and Wichita in Kansas. Wichita, Aberdeen Village, Manor of the Plains and Aberdeen Heights were among 708 communities that received the high performing designation in both categories.

All Medicare- and Medicaid-certified health care centers were evaluated by U.S. News. To be eligible for an overall rating, a center must have received reimbursement from CMS in July 2020 and had sufficient data to evaluate quality in that rating.

To learn more about the U.S. News and World Report rating system, visit their FAQ page.

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