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Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services

Updated May 1, 2022 by Nick Reese

Historical Rating
Grade: F
Oct 18: BNov 18: BDec 18: BJan 19: B-Feb 19: B-May 19: B-Jun 19: B-Jul 19: CAug 19: CSep 19: CJan 20: CMar 20: CApr 20: CMay 20: FJun 20: FJul 20: FAug 20: FSep 20: FOct 20: FJan 21: FFeb 21: FMar 21: FApr 21: FMay 21: FJun 21: FJul 21: FAug 21: FSep 21: FOct 21: FNov 21: FJan 22: FFeb 22: FMar 22: FApr 22: FMay 22: F
See Rating Overview

1200 Birchwood Avenue,
Bellingham WA 98225

(360) 734-9295

73.92% estimated occupancy 1

Note: Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services has been flagged for abuse in the past 12 months. We have capped this facility's overall grade accordingly.

Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services is an average-sized nursing home located in Bellingham, Washington. With a terrible overall grade of F, this facility isn't high on our list. If you are not satisfied with this facility's mediocre overall grade, you will be pleased to know there are five other nursing homes in Bellingham. More information on this nursing home's category grades may be found below. Its best category was nursing, which is discussed in the next paragraph.

Quick Details

  • Accepts Medicare 1
  • Accepts Medicaid 1
  • No CCRC
  • Has Resident Council
  • No Family Council
  • For profit - Corporation

Registered Staff Hours

Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2021)
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January
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February
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November
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Nurse Quality

Grade: B-minus

Even though this nursing home's overall grade was as bad as it gets, it actually didn't perform as badly in nursing. In fact, we gave it a grade of B- for that category. Our nursing score analyzes the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. We consider both the levels of skill of those nurses and the quantity of hours spent with residents. This facility provides 4.3 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is better than average. In determining our nursing grades, we apply more weight to hours performed by more highly trained nurses such as registered nurses. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as minimizing major falls. This facility performed admirably in this subcategory. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a nursing home has quality controls in place. Many falls can be prevented if a facility offers enough nurses aids to assist its residents.

Short-term Care Quality

Grade: B-minus

This facility also didn't grade out terribly in the area of short-term care. In fact, we awarded it a grade of B- in that area, which is among its higher grades. Our short-term care grade is commonly used to judge a nursing home's performance with rehabilitation. To provide highly scored rehabilitation services, facilities generally need to offer better levels of highly skilled nursing services. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other licensed professionals. This nursing home boosted its score in this category by offering more physical therapy hours to its residents than the average facility. Finally, we looked at the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. This place outperformed the majority of nursing homes in this area with 50.3 percent of its residents returning home. This is a better rate than most facilities.

Long-term Care Quality

Grade: B-minus

We were also pleasantly surprised to find that this facility received a somewhat respectable long-term care rating this year. We awarded it a grade of B- in that category. Our long-term care grade assesses a nursing home's personal care rather than the skilled therapy or healthcare services that are critical to a rehabilitation facility. On top of considering the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. Thankfully, this nursing home vaccinated 96.49123 percent of its patients, which is a very respectable figure. This facility keeps its patients out of the hospital. While it had 1.88 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, its risk adjusted metric was better than the majority of nursing homes due to it having some more complicated patients.

Facility Inspections

Grade: F

In our last category of inspections, this facility received an F here. Since this data is compiled by government inspectors, we heavily weight negative feedback in this category. With facilities that received this poor of an inspection rating, we recommend scrutinizing the severe deficiencies on its inspection report. This nursing home was assessed 9 deficiencies on its inspection report. The only favorable thing we can say is that none of these deficiencies were in the categories that indicate they posed a threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility was cited by CMS for possible abuse or neglect. We would not recommend this facility under any circumstance.

Rating Over Time

Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.

FDCB-BB+A-AA+Oct 18Jun 22

Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services Quality Metrics

Minimizes Pressure Ulcers

Grade: A-plus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 6.84% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers

This tells you the percentage of residents that have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be a barometer of nursing care . Pressure ulcers, which are also called bed sores, are routinely the result of residents not being moved frequently enough.

Minimizes Serious Falls

Grade: A-minus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 3.14% of Patients had Serious Falls

This tells you the percentage of residents that sustained a fall which resulted in serious injury.

Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections

Grade: A-minus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 2.25% of Patients had UTIs

This indicates the percent of residents who sustained a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered to be an indicator of the quality of nursing care . UTI's are routinely caused by a facility with worst hygiene practices. However, this datapoint may be skewed for some nursing homes due to different reporting standards for urinary tract infections.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication

Grade: A-minus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 13.73% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication

This datapoint gauges the percent of long-term patients taking antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications play an important role in caring for many residents, it is important to confirm these medications are being used appropriately. In some situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may mean a facility is using these medications to subdue residents.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication

Grade: B-plus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 12.45% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication

This is the percent of residents who were given antianxiety medications. These drugs are typically used to treat residents experiencing anxiety or depression.

Managing Depression Among Residents

Grade: C

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 14.66% of Patients

This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term care residents who are exhibiting symptoms of depression. Some believe this is a reasonable measure of resident quality of care.

Appropriate Vaccine Usage

Grade: B

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 93.57% of Patients

This tells you the percent of patients that have received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be standard at this point.

Residents Maintain Autonomy

Grade: B

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 13.88% Percentage of Patients

This is the percentage of residents that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's could indicate decline of a resident's medical condition.

Ability to Keep Residents Mobile

Grade: A

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 23.08% Percentage of Residents

This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term stay patients who retained mobility levels. Some believe that the ability to move around is important for patients physical and mental health.

Hospitalizations

Grade: B-plus

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 0.95 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days

This datapoint is a measure of the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care. Avoiding hospitalizations is key to the physical well-being of residents.

Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations

Grade: D

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 23.08 Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized

This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term care.

Short-term Care: ER Visits

Grade: A+

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 11.09 Percentage of Patients

This metric tracks the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.

Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement

Grade: A

In Avamere Bellingham Health Care & Rehab Services, 73.77% Percentage of Resident

This is the percent of short-term residents that saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living.

Scores for Bellingham, WA

  • Overall Rating has a grade of C
  • Nurse Rating has a grade of B-plus
  • Long-term Care Rating has a grade of C
  • Short-term Care Rating has a grade of B
  • Inspection Rating has a grade of C

Looking for more options? Bellingham, Washington has 5 other nursing homes

Nearby Hospitals

  • St Joseph HospitalAcute Care Hospitals 0.67 miles away2901 Squalicum Parkway Bellingham Washington 98225Voluntary non-profit - Other(360) 734-5400
  • Island HospitalAcute Care Hospitals 19.93 miles away1211 24th Street Anacortes Washington 98221Government - Hospital District or Authority(360) 299-1300

Nearby Dialysis

  • Davita Mt Baker Kidney Center0.53 miles away410 Birchwood Suite 100 Bellingham Washington 98225CMS Rating: 5 stars Dialysis Stations: 26 (360) 734-4243

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Footnotes:

  1. https://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/profile.html#ID=505223