U.S. News recently named the Walnut Hills Nursing Home in Walnut Creek as a “Best Nursing Home” for long-term care for 2020-21.

U.S. News has been rating nursing homes for 11 years, striving to provide easy access to information that allows families to research facilities and make educated decisions on the best care for their loved one.

During the most recent review, U.S. News evaluated 13,433 nursing homes, and only 1,139 of those facilities, including Walnut Hills, were designated as “high-performing,” earning the distinction of a U.S. News “Best Nursing Home.”

The long-term care rating is based on quality measures from publicly available data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In addition to including data on staffing, success in preventing emergency room visits, and pneumonia vaccination rates, the ratings and profiles were updated to include a patient summary that reflects COVID-19 data and other measurements of safety and related advice on choosing a facility amidst the pandemic.

“Walnut Hills is proud to again be named a Best Nursing Home,” said Rob Aneshansel, Executive Director. “Our compassionate team provides excellent care for our residents day and night, and the high quality care that has been a trademark of Walnut Hills for five decades has been consistent throughout the pandemic.”

One area highlighted in the U.S. News report is staffing. The report shows long-term care staff (including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nursing assistants) at Walnut Hills spend an average of four hours and four minutes per resident per day. That number is significantly higher than the national and state averages of three hours and 40 minutes and three hours and 52 minutes, respectively.

The report also shows that 21.3-percent of nursing staff hours at Walnut Hills are performed by registered nurses. The Ohio average is 17.4-percent, the national average is 17.9-percent.

“As a non-profit organization, our staffing levels are higher on average than our competitors in the area,” added Aneshansel. “Higher staffing levels translate to better care for residents and a better work environment for our team members.”