Avalon Place Wharton
1405 Valhalla Dr, Wharton TX 77488 · (979) 532-1244 · 64.41% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Avalon Place Wharton is a facility located in Wharton, Texas, a city with a population of 14,148 people. Our scoring system was not very kind to this nursing home, as we gave it an overall score of F. This nursing home does not seem to have any redeeming qualities. Finally, we were surprised to learn that this place earned a decent grade in our long-term care category. You can find more information on this category below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 120 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
While we graded this facility incredibly poorly overall, it received a fairly respectable inspection report this year. As a result, it received a decent grade in that category with a score of B-. We believe that one of the most important factors in assessing an inspection report is deficiencies. In this regard, we especially focus on the severity of the deficiencies. Although this nursing home had some deficiencies on its inspection report, none were severe based on CMS' scale. A few minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.
Long-term Care Quality
We also wanted to draw your attention to this facility's rock-bottom long-term care score where it received a lowly F. For prospective patients in need of a permanent place to live rather than skilled nursing, long-term care is a very important category. Once we looked at the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination records. We were pleased to discover that this nursing home vaccinated 96.10895 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Unfortunately, this nursing home's hospitalization rate was far less favorable. We found that this place had 2.58 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an alarming rate.
Nurse Quality
We also wanted to draw your attention to this facility's poor nursing grade where it received an F. Our nursing score looks at the nursing home's nurse staffing levels. We factor in both the levels of licensure of those nurses as well as the quantity of hours spent with patients. This place provided a meager 3 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This statistic is far below the national average. Unfortunately, this place also had terrible marks in some of the quality-based metrics to pair with its weak nursing hour totals. We looked at the percent of patients experiencing pressure ulcers and we were disappointed. This nursing home was at roughly 1.5 times the national average in this metric.
Short-term Care Quality
The next area we rated was short-term care, where this nursing home received a bottom of the barrel score in this category as well. We gave it an abysmal F in this area, which is definitely very concerning. In our short-term care rating, we endeavor to craft a valuable measure for rehabilitation. In doing so, we look at the nursing home's level of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. Given its score in this category, we were not surprised to discover that this nursing home was well below average in terms of its number of physical therapy and registered nurse hours offered to its residents based on the figures we assessed. Honestly, this was about what we expected to find. The final datapoint we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 31.7 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is well below average. The combination of these subpar statistics doomed this nursing home's short-term care score.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Avalon Place Wharton Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also known as bed sores, are routinely the result of patients not being moved frequently enough. Better nursing protocols can limit 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 datapoint is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay residents which have sustained falls which resulted in severe injury. This is one of the statistics we use in calculating nursing ratings.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of residents that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are associated with poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic drugs are prescribed to patients for a variety of conditions, including dementia. Sadly, in some situations, increased usage of these drugs may indicate that a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of patients who were prescribed antianxiety drugs. Antianxiety drugs are prescribed to residents experiencing anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is a measure of the percent of long-term residents who are demonstrating depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for seniors, making these types of vaccines critical to patient care.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percentage of long-term residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as dressing and taking a bath. Many would argue this is a measure of a patient's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term residents that remained mobile levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care. There is usually a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and the overall quality of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint measures the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to measure the well-being of patients during rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percentage of short-term residents that saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Many would argue that this is a reliable measure of a facility's rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better