Blackhawk Life Care Center
73 West 5th Street, Lake View IA 51450 · (712) 657-8527 · 59.33% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Blackhawk Life Care Center is the sole option we identified in Lake View, Iowa. This facility is ranked among the highest-rated facilities we assessed. It was given one of the highest grades that we offer. We were so impressed with this facility that we ranked it in the top 20 percent of all nursing homes nationally. If you scroll down, you can see this place's category ratings, which are also strong.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 45 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Individual
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of performing well overall, this facility also received nearly flawless government inspections. Consequently, it earned one of our best scores in that area with an A+. Inspection scores weigh several factors found on a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher scores in this area generally have few severe deficiencies. Although this nursing home had some deficiencies on its inspection report, none of them were major deficiencies based on CMS' scale. A few relatively minor dings aren't the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. Nursing ratings are mostly associated with the nursing home's nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident daily. This was one of the more impressive totals we found. Furthermore, a significant percentage of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. These are both really impressive figures. On top of offering impressive levels of care, this place was also above average in each of the major quality measures we assessed in this category. For example, it performed well in the area of avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers. These statistics are generally good indicators of the quality of nursing care a nursing home provides.
Short-term Care Quality
Compounding its strong profile, this nursing home also received a strong short-term care score, with a grade of A-. In determining our short-term care grades, we size up a facility's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other highly skilled individuals. This category is typically a fair assessment of a facility's rehabilitation. One of this nursing home's strengths is registered nurse hours. We found that it offers more care from registered nurses to its residents than most facilities. The final item we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We found that it was respectable in this area with 47.3 percent of its patients returning home.
Long-term Care Quality
The final category we graded is long-term care. This nursing home received a very good nursing grade this year, with a grade of B. Even though this is not nearly as strong as some of its other category grades, this is nevertheless one of the more impressive scores for that category. Long-term care ratings of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. One of the data points we considered on top of this facility's quality nursing hours is vaccinations. This nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are a great way to avoid unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations for the elderly. This combination proved to be effective as this facility also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had only 1.44 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Blackhawk Life Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care residents which developed pressure ulcers. We find that pressure ulcers are a reliable barometer of the quality of nursing care a facility provides.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term residents that sustained a fall which resulted in serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of major falls may be an indicator of lower levels of patient supervision.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of patients that sustained a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many experts to be a barometer of the quality of nursing care . UTI's are routinely linked to a nursing home with worse hygiene protocols. Nevertheless, this datapoint can also be misleading for some facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for UTI's.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents given antipsychotic drugs. These medications may be used for treating a variety of conditions, such as Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percentage of patients given antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are given to patients suffering from depression or anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients who are exhibiting symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay patients who needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and continence.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This indicates the percent of patients who maintained mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term patient care. There is usually a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This metric measures the percentage of short-term care patients who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better