Alaris Health at the Fountains
595 County Avenue, Secaucus NJ 07094 · (201) 863-8866 · 78.86% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Alaris Health at the Fountains is located in Secaucus, New Jersey, a city with a total of 16,264 people. Featuring an overall grade of A-, this facility is one of the higher-rated nursing homes we assessed. We were so impressed with this nursing home that we ranked it in the top third of all nursing homes in the country. This facility's impressive profile was highlighted by its inspection score, which we will address in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 334 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Individual
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
We also wanted to emphasize that this facility has received near flawless health inspections in recent years. We awarded them an A+ in this category. Perhaps the most important factor we look at in computing our inspection scores is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes with better scores in this category typically avoided the most severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.
Short-term Care Quality
We also wanted to note the fact that this nursing home received a strong score of A- in our short-term care category. In determining these short-term care scores, we quantify the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our purpose is to formulate a scale for comparing the rehabilitation services of different facilities. This nursing home provides more services with physical therapists and registered nurses than most nursing homes we looked at. This is usually a favorable sign. Finally, we looked at the percentage of residents who were able to return home from this nursing home. We found that it outperformed the majority of facilities in the country with 50.7 percent of its patients returning home. This is a higher rate than most facilities.
Nurse Quality
Adding to its profile, this facility also earned a grade of B+ for its nursing rating. This is a well above average score in this category. Nursing grades are heavily correlated with quality and quantity of nursing care. This facility provided 3.7 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also looked at certain nursing quality-based metrics in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these datapoints as good indicators of the quality of nursing care provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Long-term Care Quality
The last category we scored is long-term care, where this facility received a B. This actually proved to be this nursing home's least impressive category. A nursing home is doing something right when their worst grade still rates higher than most facilities. Facilities that excel in this category typically are well-staffed and provide extensive hands on care to patients. On top of considering the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 99.898476 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping residents out of the hospital. This facility also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 1.7 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Alaris Health at the Fountains Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, are routinely caused by patients staying in one position for too long. Better nursing protocols limits the number of pressure ulcers sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay patients which have had a fall resulting in severe injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls may be a sign of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of patients that suffered from a urinary tract infection. These infections are sometimes associated with insufficient hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percentage of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic medications are given to residents for many conditions, including cognitive disorders. Tragically, in limited situations, excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term residents taking antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percent of long-term stay residents who are exhibiting depressive symptoms. Some experts argue that this is a measure of quality of life.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
Measures the percentage of long-term patients that were administered the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be deadly for nursing home patients, making these vaccines vital to patient safety.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of residents that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living could be a sign of the erosion of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percent of patients who were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is usually a good sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. Avoiding the hospital during rehabilitation is key to restoring the health of patients.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This tells you the percent of short-term care residents that saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. High levels of autonomy with ADL's usually correlates with higher quality rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better