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There are 30 nursing homes across the Upper Peninsula, and overall, they rate pretty well.

"A lot of our facilities are smaller facilities.  They're more community-based facilities, and the staff really seem to take interest in their residents," explains Doni Young of UPCAP.  She's the Upper Peninsula's Long Term Care Ombudsman.

Zooming in on the list of 30, it would appear that we have very good nursing homes, average ones, and some that have serious problems.

Medicare rates nursing homes based on a Five Star Quality Rating.  Five stars is the best; one star is the worst.  The stars are based on three components:  the facility's state inspection, which is done annually at a random time, as well as its nursing staff and its quality measures--basically the health and wellness of its residents. 

I logged onto Medicare.gov, and for this story, I randomly picked a five star facility and a one star facility.  First, we'll take a look at the one star, Cypress Manor in Hancock. 

Kathy Dube is the Administrator.  She says her one star rating is inaccurate.

"It's a snapshot that they take of a facility on the day that they walk in," says Dube.

The day the inspectors walked in, they found nine health deficiencies at Cypress Manor.

"All of those deficiencies were very minor," Dube explains.  "Some of them were paperwork deficiencies which really had nothing to do with the care of the residents."

The state requires the facility to fix those deficiencies, which Cypress Manor has done.

"Since that survey, we have been resurveyed, and we cleared all of those surveys," Dube says, "and at this point in time, we have no outstanding deficiencies as far as the state of Michigan is concerned."

But that's not something you'd find on the Medicare website, not very easily anyway.  Instead, you see a one star rating for a facility that, according to Dube, may deserve more. 

In its last state inspection, Cypress Manor was given a "Nutrition and Dietary Deficiency," specifically, the facility wasn't storing, cooking or giving out food in a safe and clean way.  The real issue, according to Dube?

"The issue was the paint was peeling up on the cooler floor.  But that falls under the deficiency for Dietary Cleanliness," she says.

That's just one example.  According to Medicare.gov, the other eight deficiencies fell in the categories of Mistreatment, Quality Care, Pharmacy Service, and Environmental.  But everyone I've spoken with, including Doni Young, the U.P.'s Long Term Care Ombudsman, says you can't rely solely on the Five Star Quality Rating.

"We always encourage that whenever available, that you visit the facility before admission, and you can go in and base your own observations and experiences on the Five Star Rating," Young says.

Speaking from my own visit to Cypress Manor, and I'm no expert, it appeared to be clean, the staff was friendly, the food smelled good, and the residents seemed happy.  But there's a facility that Medicare rates five stars right up the road from Cypress Manor.  Tomorrow night, we'll take a look at PortagePointe.

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Overall U.P. nursing home ratings, based on latest Medicare reports on Medicare.gov:

One Star Overall:
Mackinac Straits Long Term Care Unit, St. Ignace
Tendercare, Sault Ste. Marie
Cypress Manor Health and Rehab, Hancock

Two Stars Overall:
Tendercare Health Center, Munising
Manorcare Nursing and Rehab Center, Kingsford
Mather Nursing Center, Ishpeming
Menominee Care Center, Menominee

Three Stars Overall:
Helen Newberry Joy Hospital Long Term Care Unit, Newberry
Our Lady of Mercy Health and Rehab, Hubbell
Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital, Inc., Ontonagon
Josephson Nursing Home, Ironwood
Chippewa County War Memorial Hospital Long Term Care Unit, Sault Ste. Marie

Four Stars Overall:
Schoolcraft Medical Care Facility, Manistique
Pinecrest Medical Care Facility, Powers
Hyland Nursing Home, Iron Mountain
Iron County Medical Care Facility, Crystal Falls
Iron River Care Center, Iron River
Norlite Nursing Home, Marquette
Eastwood Nursing Center, Negaunee
Marquette County Medical Care Facility, Ishpeming
Bayside Village, L'Anse
Houghton County Medical Care Facility, Hancock
Gogebic Medical Care Facility, Wakefield
Westgate Nursing and Rehab, Ironwood
Christian Park Health Care Center, Escanaba

Five Stars Overall:
Christian Park Village, Escanaba
Roubal Care and Rehab Center, Stephenson
Freeman Nursing and Rehab Community, Kingsford
PortagePointe, Hancock

No Rating Available:
Bishop Noa Home for Senior Citizens, Escanaba

Not Rated:
DJ Jacobetti Home for Veterans, Marquette

For more information, visit Medicare's Website.