Beacon Health Center
4538 North Beacon, Chicago IL 60640 · (773) 275-7200 · 54.75% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Beacon Health Center is a large nursing home located in Chicago, Illinois. This nursing home received an overall rating of F. Keep in mind that Chicago received a city grade of C, so should look at other options in the city as well. Despite all this, one of the few highlights of this nursing home's profile is its impressive inspection score. You can scroll down to find out about inspections and other category scores
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 143 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Limited Liability company
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
While we graded this nursing home incredibly poorly overall, it actually earned a very impressive government inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our more favorable grades in that area with a B. Our inspection scores weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. You generally want to avoid places with a bunch of severe deficiencies flagged. Although this facility had some deficiencies on its government inspection report, none were major deficiencies based on CMS' scale. A couple minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.
Short-term Care Quality
Moving on to the area of short-term care, this nursing home received just a D in this area. As it turns out, this wound up being its second best grade. Short-term care ratings are crucial for individuals needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically mandates additional skilled nursing. This means a broad range of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. In this facility's case, it looks like it offers fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than the average facility. Finally, we considered the percentage of patients that were able to return home from this nursing home. This facility didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 41 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home. This figure was well off the national average.
Nurse Quality
This facility ended up receiving rock bottom score in our nursing category. It received an F in this category. The nursing score is based on several datapoints. The most heavily weighted one is the amount of time nurses spend with residents. This nursing home provided only 3.2 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This is an alarmingly low total. This nursing home also had terrible marks in several of the quality-based measures to go along with its weak nursing hour totals. For starters, we looked at the percentage of patients sustaining pressure ulcers. This nursing home was at more than double the national average in this datapoint. This is concerning when you consider that so many bed sores are preventable with better nursing care. This ended up sealing the facility's fate of earning a weak nursing score.
Long-term Care Quality
Moving on to the final category, this nursing home really did not perform very well in this area either. Due to an abysmal grade of F in long-term care, this is about as bad as it gets. Long-term care grades in this range generally are a bad sign for the quantity and quality of care provided by nurses and aids. After considering the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we next considered the facility's vaccination statistics. Candidly, we were a bit alarmed this facility vaccinated 83.0721 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is several points lower than average. To our surprise, this facility was actually decent at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. This was its best score in this category.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Beacon Health Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This tells you the percentage of patients who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be a barometer of nursing care at a nursing home. Pressure ulcers, which are also known as bed sores, are routinely the result of residents not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of patients that suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to severe injuries are often the result of lower quality nursing care. Better nursing protocols can reduce the number of major falls sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of patients who sustained 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 often caused by worse hygiene protocols. Nevertheless, this statistic could be skewed for certain facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percentage of patients given antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic drugs are given to patients for a variety of conditions, such as cognitive disorders. Unfortunately, in some situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use 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 figure measures the percent of long-term patients who were given antianxiety medication. These drugs are typically prescribed to residents experiencing depression or anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percentage of residents who are exhibiting signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percentage of residents who were given the flu and pneumonia vaccines. High vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percentage of residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may be a sign of the deterioration of a resident's medical condition.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents that maintained mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term patient care. There is usually a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and the quality of rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term patient care. There is usually a correlation between having fewer emergency room visits and the quality of rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better