Ballenger Creek Center
347 Ballenger Drive, Frederick MD 21701 · (301) 663-5181 · 75.31% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Ballenger Creek Center is one of six facilities located in Frederick, Maryland. Featuring an overall score of A-, we deemed this facility to be ranked among the top three facilities in the city. An overall grade in this range is a strong indicator of a superb facility. Based on our ratings, this facility is simply as good as it gets. Scroll down to find this nursing home's category grades, which are also strong. It is hard to find any major flaws in this facility's profile.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 143 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Short-term Care Quality
To pair with its strong overall grade, we gave this facility an impressive grade of A for our short-term care rating. In computing our short-term care grades, we size up a facility's levels of highly skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This rating is frequently a meaningful measure of a facility's rehabilitation services. This facility excelled in the two key staffing areas we looked at. It offered more care from physical therapists and registered nurses than the average nursing home. This is generally an excellent sign. Lastly, we looked at the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that it outperformed the vast majority of facilities in the nation in this area with 63.3 percent of its residents returning home.
Facility Inspections
Adding to this facility's impressive resume, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A- for our inspections rating. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection ratings. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more important than the number of deficiencies, as some end up being relatively insignificant. This place received 5 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered severe. This indicates that the government inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies to be an immediate risk to resident health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
This facility was given a favorable long-term care grade as well. We awarded it one of our better grades in that category with a score of B+. Facilities that receive this type of score in this category tend to provide consistent around the clock care to ensure patients are kept in good health. In addition to really impressive nursing hour statistics, this facility's vaccination record is superb as well. Indeed, this nursing home vaccinated 99.672134 percent of its patients for pneumonia. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. Although it had 1.77 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, its risk adjusted score was better than most facilities since it had some more complex patients.
Nurse Quality
The last area we rated is nursing. We awarded this nursing home one of our higher grades in this category, with a B. Although this wasn't as favorable as some of its other grades, it is still a positive grade. In determining our nursing ratings, we analyze both nursing hours and the training levels of those nurses. This nursing home boasts a really impressive 4.1 hours of nursing care per patient daily, of which a significant portion of those hours were provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly highly trained levels of nurses. On top of offering high levels of nursing care, this nursing home also performed well in several of the quality measures we looked at. In terms of the percentage of its residents suffering falls resulting in major injury, this facility performed as well as any facility the state.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Ballenger Creek Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in one position for an excessive period of time.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This metric tells you the percentage of long-term stay patients who have suffered a fall leading to severe injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of falls resulting in injuries may be an indicator of lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure measures the percentage of long-term residents who suffered from urinary tract infections. UTI's could be an indication of a facility with worst hygiene practices. Nevertheless, this datapoint can be skewed for some facilities due to different reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This figure gauges the percentage of long-term patients taking antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications play an important role in caring for many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a facility is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antianxiety medications. These drugs are generally used to treat patients experiencing anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percentage of patients who are exhibiting depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric measures the percentage of long-term care residents that were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. High 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 metric measures the percent of long-term care residents who were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of times residents are hospitalized 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 times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. There is a correlation between reduced hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
Measures the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percentage of short-term residents that experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better