Bala Nursing and Retirement Ce
4001 Ford Road, Philadelphia PA 19131 · (215) 877-5400 · 92.72% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Bala Nursing and Retirement Ce is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This city is one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the country with has a population of 1,526,206 people. This nursing home was given an extremely poor overall rating based on the data we assessed. Philadelphia received a city grade of B-, so there are other options in the city worth considering. We wouldn't blame you if you're ready to stop reading and find another nursing home. However, if you want to learn more about this nursing home's category grades, long-term care grades are discussed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 180 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
Even though we graded this facility incredibly poorly overall, it received a better long-term care rating this year. We gave it a B- in that category. Our long-term care ratings are more critical for folks requiring more traditional assistance related to activities of daily living. On top of assessing the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. We found that this nursing home provided the vaccine to a relatively low 55.51948 percent of its patients, which is a bit of a concern. Finally, we looked at its number of hospitalizations. Here we found that this nursing home had 2.44 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Although this figure is quite a bit higher than the national average, this number can be skewed for some facilities due to the preexisting medical conditions of residents.
Facility Inspections
This facility performed well in the area of inspections also. In fact, we gave it a B- for that category, which is a solid grade. We would argue that one of the most critical factors in evaluating an inspection report is deficiencies. In this regard, we especially focus on the severity of those deficiencies. While this nursing home had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G through L. This means the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A few minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
Remarkably, we awarded this nursing home a grade of C for our nursing rating, which isn't a bad grade. Our nursing score analyzes the facility's level of nurse staffing. We factor in both the levels of skill of the nurses and the amount of time spent with residents. This nursing home averages 3.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based metrics, such as preventing major falls. This nursing home performed admirably in this datapoint. Avoiding serious falls is generally an indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Many falls can be prevented if a facility offers enough nurses to assist its residents.
Short-term Care Quality
The next area we assessed was short-term care. We gave it an abysmal F in this area, which is a rock bottom score. In determining our short-term care grades, we assess a nursing home's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This category is generally a reliable measure of the nursing home's rehabilitation. Given its poor grade, we were not shocked to find that this nursing home provided substantially fewer registered nurse hours per resident than most other facilities. Finally, we considered the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. This definitely was not a strength for this facility. We found that just 27.1 percent of this facility's residents returned home. At most facilities, around half of their residents are able to return home so this is well below average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Bala Nursing and Retirement Ce Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This tells you the percent of patients who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are skin damage due to staying in one position for too long.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of patients who sustained a major fall. Falls leading to severe injury are considered by many experts to be an indicator of nursing care . Falls which result in injury are often the result of lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of residents that have had a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many experts to be an indicator of nursing care at a nursing home. UTI's are routinely linked to lower quality nursing care. However, this metric could be misleading for certain nursing homes due to different reporting standards for these infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is an indication of the percent of long-term stay patients who were given antipsychotic medication. Increased usage of these drugs may mean that a facility is using these medications to subdue residents in scenarios where such medications aren't medically indicated. Nevertheless, some facilities may need to rely on these drugs due to having more patients with Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This datapoint indicates the percent of long-term residents receiving antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percentage of patients who are demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is the percent of patients that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be standard at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is the percent of patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may indicate decline of a resident's health.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percentage of residents who retained mobility levels over time. Retaining mobility is usually a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
Measures the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term care. There is a correlation between avoiding hospitalizations and the quality of rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint is a measure of the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per thousand days of short-term patient care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to assess short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This is the percent of short-term stay patients that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Higher levels of independence with ADL's usually correlates with superior rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better