Best Nursing Homes In North Carolina: US News Releases 2020 List

CHARLOTTE, NC — As health care facilities continue to face an ongoing battle against the coronavirus, several nursing homes in North Carolina 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 427 facilities in North Carolina, and of those, 26 received an overall rating of 5 out of 5. In the Charlotte metro, nearly 90 facilities were rated.

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 some of the nursing homes in the Charlotte metro fared:

Sharon Towers, 5100 Sharon Road, Charlotte

• Short-stay rating: high performing
• Overall rating: 5/5

Asbury Health and Rehabilitation Center, 3211 Bishops Way Lane, Charlotte

• Short-stay rating: high performing
• Long-stay rating: average
• Overall rating: 4/5

Huntersville Health & Rehabilitation Center, 13835 Boren Street, Huntersville

• Short-stay rating: high performing
• Long-stay rating: average
• Overall rating: 4/5

Autumn Care of Cornelius, 19530 Mount Zion Parkway, Cornelius

• Short-stay rating: average
• Long-stay rating: average
• Overall rating: 3/5

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.

As the case in many states, nursing homes in North Carolina have been hit hard by coronavirus this year. As of Oct. 29, at least 14,617 positive COVID-19 cases were reported in the state, and 1,709 deaths.

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.