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

ILLINOIS — As health care facilities continue to face an ongoing battle against the coronavirus, several nursing homes in Illinois 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 720 facilities in Illinois.

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 Illinois fared:

• Total nursing homes in Illinois: 720
• Rated high performing in short stay: 123
• Rated high performing in long term care: 76
• Rated high performing in both categories: 44
• Rated high performing in either category: 155

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.

Nursing homes in Illinois were hit hard by the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic, with more than half the state's COVID-19 deaths coming from nursing homes, according to Chicago Public Radio. The high death rate has led to lawsuits at some facilities, such as Bria of Geneva, where more than two-thirds of residents were infected and more than a quarter died. Over the summer, Gov. J.B. Pritzker replaced two state officials responsible for controlling the spread of the virus in nursing homes, and deaths have since dropped.

According to Kaiser Health News, 76 percent of nursing homes in Illinois have been cited in recent years for problems with infection control. Many infection citations concern basic sanitary practices, including workers' failure to wash hands as they move from patient to patient, or wear masks, gloves and gowns when dealing with contagious patients. Those practices are important at any time, but especially when battling a highly contagious virus like the coronavirus.

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.