Big Sky Care Center

Nursing Home

Updated Sep 1, 2022 by Nick Lata

Historical Rating

See Rating Overview

Big Sky Care Center's website

2475 Winne Ave,
Helena MT 59601

(406) 442-1350

28.98% estimated occupancy ¹

Located in Helena, Montana, Big Sky Care Center is one of only three available facilities in the area. Sporting an overall grade of A-, this facility is one of the higher-rated facilities we looked at. We flat out can't say enough good things about this nursing home. The best part of this facility's strong report card was its nursing grade. Nursing grades are discussed in the next section

Quick Details

Accepts Medicare ¹
Accepts Medicaid ¹
No CCRC
Has Resident Council
No Family Council
For profit - Limited Liability company
Offers Inpatient Rehab

Specialized Services

Personal Care
Medication Management
Home Making
Transportation
Medical Transportation
Speech Therapy
Dentistry
Wound Care
Occupational Therapy
Podiatry
Physical Therapy
Nutritional Counseling
Recreational Therapy
Pain Management
Audiology

Registered Staff Hours

Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2021)

Less:

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Nurse Quality

In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this facility also received an excellent nursing score, with a grade of A. Our nursing grade is largely tied to the facility's level of nurse staffing. This nursing home averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. This facility performed very well when it comes to avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

Facility Inspections

This facility has received near flawless health inspections in recent years. We gave them an A- in this area. Inspection scores are tied to pieces of information found on the a nursing home's government inspections. Facilities that receive favorable grades in this category have few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these places should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. This particular nursing home received 9 deficiencies on its inspection report. Overall, this is still a good inspection report, but we'd always recommend looking into any deficiencies you find troubling.

Does this page answer your questions about Big Sky Care Center?

Short-term Care Quality

Moving on our next category, this facility was awarded a top-shelf short-term care grade. In fact, we awarded it a score of A- in this area. Our short-term care ratings are believed to be most important for residents requiring a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally requires higher levels of highly-skilled nursing. Skilled nursing means not just nursing, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not all facilities employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last datapoint we assessed in this area is the number of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 5.5 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.

Long-term Care Quality

The final category we analyzed is long-term care. We awarded this facility an acceptable score in that area, with a grade of C. Although this isn't on par with some of its other scores, it is nevertheless not a poor grade. Long-term care ratings are crucial for residents looking for non-healthcare services such as personal care. Once we concluded our assessment of the volume of nursing care, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination record. We were optimistic to discover that this facility vaccinated 96.51163 percent of its patients against pneumonia. This facility keeps its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had only 0.02 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

Rating Over Time

Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.

Big Sky Care Center Quality Metrics

Minimizes Pressure Ulcers

In Big Sky Care Center, 8.33% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers

This statistic is is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents who suffer from new or worsened pressure ulcers. Many experts believe that pressure ulcers are a reliable measure of quality of care.

Minimizes Serious Falls

In Big Sky Care Center, 5.25% of Patients had Serious Falls

This datapoint gauges the percentage of long-term care patients that experienced a fall which resulted in severe injury. Falls can happen for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls may be an indication of lower quality nursing care.

Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections

In Big Sky Care Center, 3.32% of Patients had UTIs

This metric indicates the percentage of long-term stay residents who had a urinary tract infection. While a higher rate infections may reflect poorly on a facility's hygiene protocols, it can be difficult to compare between nursing homes due to nursing homes having differing reporting standards.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication

In Big Sky Care Center, 16.25% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication

This tells you the percent of patients who were prescribed antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic drugs are given to patients for a variety of medical conditions, such as cognitive disorders. Sadly, in some cases, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may suggest that a facility is using these drugs to subdue residents.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication

In Big Sky Care Center, 14.87% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication

This tells you the percent of residents prescribed antianxiety drugs. These medications are used to treat patients experiencing depression or anxiety.

Managing Depression Among Residents

In Big Sky Care Center, 5.28% of Patients

This tells you the percentage of residents showing symptoms of depression.

Appropriate Vaccine Usage

In Big Sky Care Center, 93.06% of Patients

This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term patients who were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.

Residents Maintain Autonomy

In Big Sky Care Center, 15.55% Percentage of Patients

This is the percentage of patients who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of needing for assistance with ADL's could be a sign of erosion of a patient's well-being.

Ability to Keep Residents Mobile

In Big Sky Care Center, 18.63% Percentage of Residents

Measures the percent of long-term patients that remained mobile levels.

Hospitalizations

In Big Sky Care Center, 1.15 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days

This is the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of care. There is a correlation between staying out of the hospital and the quality of nursing home care.

Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations

In Big Sky Care Center, 18.63 Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized

This indicates the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and a nursing home's quality of short-term rehabilitation.