Five Area Nursing Homes Receive Five-star Ratings

SPRINGFIELD — Five Greater Springfield nursing homes received five-star ratings in a recently published report by U.S. News & World Report.

“Best Nursing Homes 2014,” a feature that rates the homes on factors such as nursing staff, health inspections, quality, fire safety, and penalties, reviews almost 16,000 nursing homes nationwide, including 43 in the Greater Springfield area. The five receiving an overall rating of five stars are Vibra Nursing & Rehabilitation Center of Western Massachusetts, Springfield; the Center for Extended Care at Amherst; Life Care Center of Wilbraham; Mary’s Meadow at Providence Place, Holyoke; and New England Health Center, Sunderland.

Area homes receiving an overall rating of four stars include Jewish Nursing Home of Western Massachusetts, Longmeadow; Loomis House Nursing Center, Holyoke; and Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing Nursing Center, Springfield.

To create the list, U.S. News & World Report drew on data from Nursing Home Compare, a program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes.