Avoca Specialty Care is a small non-profit nursing home located in Avoca, Iowa. This facility was awarded an uninspiring overall grade of D, which is a relatively poor rating. If you are not satisfied with this facility's pedestrian overall grade, you may have to look in other cities as this is the only nursing home in Avoca. If you aren't deterred by this place's report card, feel free to continue reading to find out about its category scores. Inspection reports are discussed in the next section.
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Avoca Specialty Care
- Nursing Home
- Assisted Living
Updated Apr 1, 2023 by Nick Lata
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- Accepts Medicare 1
- Accepts Medicaid 1
- No CCRC
- Has Resident Council
- No Family Council
- Non profit - Corporation
- Offers Hospice
- Offers Respite Care
- Offers Inpatient Rehab
- Offers Outpatient Rehab
Specialized Services
- Personal Care
- Medication Management
- Speech Therapy
- IV Antibiotic Therapy
- Wound Care
- Occupational Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Nutritional Counseling
- Recreational Therapy
- Pain Management
- Lymphedema Care
- Total Parenteral Nutrition
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Registered Staff Hours
Facility Inspections
While we were not high on this nursing home overall, we awarded it a B for our inspections rating. This grade is much better than the place's overall grade. Our inspection grades account for several factors found on a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. You should avoid nursing homes with a list of deficiencies flagged. This facility received 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered severe. This indicates that CMS did not consider any of the deficiencies to cause an immediate risk to patient health or safety. A couple minor deficiencies aren't the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
One of the other reasons we rated this nursing home so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing grade. In that area, we gave this facility an B-. Nursing grades are based largely on levels of nurse staffing. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident on a daily basis. This figure is far below the national average. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality measures. Although this facility got dinged a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in some of these quality measures. With less than five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it did remarkably well in this metric. This is typically a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving patients more frequently.
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Short-term Care Quality
This facility's next best category was its short-term care grade, where it received a B-. In our short-term care grade, we try to craft a meaningful barometer for rehabilitation services. In doing so, we analyze the facility's levels of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as respiratory therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most other facilities. The final measure we looked at in this area is the percentage of patients that were able to return home from the facility. We found that just 4.8 percent of this facility's residents returned home.
Long-term Care Quality
The next area we graded was long-term care, in which this facility received a very poor score here also. It received an F for this area, which is definitely very concerning. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally are a bad sign for the quantity and quality of care provided by nurses and aids. One of the statistics we considered in addition to nurse's aid hours was vaccinations. Candidly, we were a bit alarmed this facility provided the pneumonia vaccine to a relatively low 84.42623 percent of its patients. Surprisingly, this place was actually able to limit hospitalizations. With just 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility had fewer hospitalizations than most nursing homes. This was its best feature in this category.
Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Avoca Specialty Care Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
In Avoca Specialty Care, 9.88% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers
This metric measures the percentage of long-term stay patients that suffered from new or worsened pressure ulcers . We bake this statistic into both nursing and long-term care grades.
Minimizes Serious Falls
In Avoca Specialty Care, 2.46% of Patients had Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of patients who suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to severe injuries are considered to be a barometer of the quality of nursing care . Falls resulting in injury are often the result of lower quality nursing care.
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
In Avoca Specialty Care, 0% of Patients had UTIs
This tells you the percentage of residents that sustained a urinary tract infection. UTI's are often linked to poor nursing care. More frequent bathing minimizes the percentage of residents in a nursing home who suffer from UTI's. We want to point out that this datapoint is affected by by the fact that nursing homes have different reporting standards for UTI's.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
In Avoca Specialty Care, 23.85% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication
This statistic tells you the percentage of long-term care residents taking antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic drugs play an important role in caring for many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used appropriately. In limited cases, increased usage of these drugs may suggest that a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
In Avoca Specialty Care, 23.33% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication
This figure tells you the percent of long-term stay patients receiving antianxiety medications.
Managing Depression Among Residents
In Avoca Specialty Care, 0% of Patients
Measures the percent of long-term stay patients demonstrating symptoms of depression.
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
In Avoca Specialty Care, 84.07% of Patients
This is a measure of the percent of long-term stay patients that received the flu and pneumonia vaccines.
Residents Maintain Autonomy
In Avoca Specialty Care, 12.5% of Patients
This indicates the percentage of residents who needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living may be a sign of the erosion of a resident's medical condition.
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
In Avoca Specialty Care, 12.56% of Residents
This metric tracks the percent of long-term stay residents that remained mobile levels.
Hospitalizations
In Avoca Specialty Care, 0.01 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
This indicates the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care.
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
In Avoca Specialty Care, 12.56% of Residents Rehospitalized
This is the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term care.
Short-term Care: ER Visits
In Avoca Specialty Care, 14.96% of Patients
This datapoint measures the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to assess the well-being of patients during rehabilitation.
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
In Avoca Specialty Care, 76.08% of Resident
This metric is a measure of the percent of short-term residents who experienced functional improvements.
Nearby Hospitals
- Myrtue Medical CenterCritical Access Hospitals 10.06 miles away1213 Garfield Avenue Harlan Iowa 51537Voluntary non-profit - Other(712) 755-5161
- Cass County Memorial HospitalCritical Access Hospitals 18.94 miles away1501 East Tenth Street Atlantic Iowa 50022Government - Local(712) 243-3250
Nearby Dialysis
- Harlan Dialysis10.01 miles away1213 Garfield Avenue Harlan Iowa 51537Dialysis Stations: 6 (712) 755-4257
- Atlantic Dialysis18.93 miles away1500 E 10th Street Ste B Atlantic Iowa 50022Dialysis Stations: 6 (712) 243-7485