New Math Revisited

In Orange County, we now employ “Reverse-Inverse Proportion” (OK, Auntie made that up-but read on!).

The more the cost of maintaining Valley View decreases-the more the urgency to sell it!

Really? It is according to Orange County spokesman, Dain Pascocello. DAIN SAID: "If Valley View were sold soon, we estimate that after paying all expenses of the sale, the county will easily realize a significant amount of revenue that can help address the budget gap,"

Please explain the logic, if any, employed when issuing that statement, Dain, because it defies any logic with which Auntie and the Team are familiar.

DAIN CONTINUES:

"There are 10 nursing homes in Orange County whose residents are of equal value to the rest, yet why are taxpayers asked only to subsidize only those living at Valley View? Valley View costs more per patient and only offers mid-level quality of care among those 10 nursing homes, based on the NYS Department of Health's own annual deficiencies report." (Source: THR today, thank you! to Chris McKenna)

Oh Really? Mid-level care? Let’s take a look at that. (Please note: Auntie really dislikes when people present just enough information to support their viewpoint instead of a complete look at the data. Now that Auntie knows Dain is prone to doing so, Auntie and the team will keep a close watch on all of Dain’s statements. Also, we are not going to address the first sentence which implies a grading system or valuation of a patient's worth).

There are 10 (ten) Nursing Homes in Orange County:

Nursing Home Name	Town/City	County
Campbell Hall Rehabilitation Center Inc	Campbell Hall	Orange
Elant at Goshen, Inc.	Goshen	Orange
Elant at Meadow Hill	Newburgh	Orange
Glen Arden Inc	Goshen	Orange
Highland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center	Middletown	Orange
Middletown Park Rehabilitation & Health Care Center	Middletown	Orange
Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center	Montgomery	Orange
Schervier Pavilion	Warwick	Orange
St. Josephs Place	Port Jervis	Orange
The Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation	Goshen	Orange

Page last modified: May 9, 2014 http://nursinghomes.nyhealth.gov/searches/county/36

Click on “compare quality” to get: 

Percent of short-stay residents who self-report moderate to severe pain.

(NYS DOH, this is one parameter to compare quality):

“These quality measures are among the most reliable, but measuring quality is difficult because of the variation among nursing homes in the complexity of residents they care for. The reporting period for this measure is January to December 2013” (underlines ours)

Nursing Home	Score
Middletown Park Rehabilitation & Health Care Center	8%
Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center	8%
Schervier Pavilion	11%
Glen Arden Inc	14%
State Average	15%
The Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation	15%
Elant at Meadow Hill	16%
National Average	19%
Campbell Hall Rehabilitation Center Inc	20%
St. Josephs Place	21%
Highland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center	26%
Elant at Goshen, Inc.	28%

Yes, Valley View is in the middle, but it is incorrect to say it offers only “mid-level care” just because it is in the middle of a chart! And, look! It is actually better than the national average and better than the 2 Elants (you know, the fancy places) according to the Department of Health. That is better than “mid-level care”, Dain. Maybe you should ask the nursing home “expert” Legislator Amo, to help you do a better spin on the issue.

But Wait!!! There’s more!!!

According to US News and World Reports Best Nursing Homes, Valley View receives an overall four out of five stars, only four, which may be due to the two out of five stars it received on “Nurse Staffing”. Isn’t it the COUNTY that is responsible for hiring practices at Valley View? Gee, maybe it would be worth it to increase the nurse staffing, that is, if a few nurses’ salaries don’t set the County finances into a whirlwind decline.

http://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/area/ny/the-hudson-valley-ny?sort=rating&state=ny&page=3

Look at the results for Elant in Goshen, which also received an overall four star ranking, but had higher nurse staffing than Valley View, with four out of five stars for nurse staffing compared to Valley View’s two out of five. http://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/area/ny/the-hudson-valley-ny?sort=rating&state=ny&page=2

To summarize:

 

Valley View:

Overall 4 stars

Health Inspections 4

Nurse Staffing 2

Quality Measures 4

Elant (Goshen):

Overall 4 stars                      

Health Inspections 3

Nurse Staffing 4

Quality Measures 5

Also, Nieces and Nephews, take a look at the federal website, where Valley View is ranked overall “above average” and this also includes the info on Elant for a valid comparison.

http://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/results.html#loc=10924&lat=41.3862816&lng=-74.347017

So, the new math utilized by our County Spokesman is as follows:

1 Valley View = county debt – 1 New Government Center

Who knew?