Buchanan County Health Center: Nursing Home OverviewSkip to content

Buchanan County Health Center

  • Nursing Home

Updated Nov 1, 2023 by Nick Reese

Historical Rating
Grade: A-plus
Oct 18: A-Nov 18: A-Dec 18: A-Jan 19: AFeb 19: AMar 19: AApr 19: AMay 19: AJun 19: AJul 19: AAug 19: ASep 19: AJan 20: AMar 20: AApr 20: AMay 20: AJun 20: AJul 20: AAug 20: ASep 20: AOct 20: ANov 20: AJan 21: AFeb 21: AMar 21: AApr 21: A+May 21: A+Jun 21: A+Jul 21: A+Aug 21: A+Sep 21: A+Oct 21: ANov 21: AJan 22: A+Feb 22: A+Mar 22: AApr 22: AMay 22: AJun 22: AAug 22: ASep 22: AOct 22: A+Nov 22: A+Jan 23: A+Feb 23: A+Mar 23: A+Apr 23: A+Jun 23: A+Jul 23: A+Aug 23: A+Sep 23: A+Oct 23: A+Nov 23: A+
See Rating Overview
Buchanan County Health Center's website

1600 First Street East,
Independence IA 50644

(319) 332-0999

88.97% estimated occupancy 1

Buchanan County Health Center is a nursing home in Independence, Iowa, a city with a total of 8,648 people. After receiving an A+ overall grade, this facility has the prestigious distinction of being one of the top 25 facilities in Iowa. In addition, this is a hospital-based nursing home, which is a positive for prospective patients with medical conditions frequently requiring hospitalization. This also turned out to be a very consistent nursing home with consistently strong ratings in all of our categories. More information about its category grades is available below.

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Quick Details

  • No Medicare 1
  • Accepts Medicaid 1
  • No CCRC
  • Has Resident Council
  • No Family Council
  • Government - County
  • Offers Inpatient Rehab

Specialized Services

  • Medical Transportation
  • Speech Therapy
  • Palliative Care
  • Wound Care
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Cardiac Therapy
  • Podiatry
  • Mental Health
  • Physical Therapy
  • Respiratory Therapy
  • Nutritional Counseling
  • Laboratory
  • X-Ray

Awards

Best Nursing Home in Independence, Iowa badge

Best Nursing Home in Independence, Iowa Awards 2021

Registered Staff Hours

Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2022)
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July
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January
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February
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Facility Inspections

Grade: A-plus

On top of receiving an elite overall score, this facility also earned an A+ inspection score. This score is based on the facility's recent government inspections. An A+ in this category is one of the highest complements we can offer a nursing home. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing these inspection scores. One of those factors is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more meaningful than the quantity of deficiencies, as some end up being relatively insignificant. While this facility had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G through L. This tells you that the inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Long-term Care Quality

Grade: A-plus

This facility also was awarded an A+ long-term care grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to be given multiple A+ category scores. Nursing homes that excel in this category tend to be well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to patients. After we finished looking at the amount of care provided by nurses, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination record. This nursing home vaccinated 97.79412 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is very impressive. Pneumonia tragically can be a dangerous health condition for nursing home residents so we prefer when a facility doesn't leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Nurse Quality

Grade: A-plus

In addition, this facility received high marks in the area of nursing. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A+. When determining a facility's nursing rating, we assess the quantity of hours nurses are caring for patients and the level of skill of those nurses. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This place performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a place has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can generally be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

Short-term Care Quality

Grade: A-minus

In the last category, this nursing home also was awarded a first-rate short-term care rating, with a grade of A-. This rounded out a straight A report card. In computing these short-term care grades, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. Our purpose is to create a scale for comparing the rehabilitation services of nursing homes. Fortunately, it looks like this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last measure we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients that were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Rating Over Time

Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.

FDCB-BB+A-AA+Oct 18Dec 23

Buchanan County Health Center Quality Metrics

Minimizes Pressure Ulcers

Grade: A+

In Buchanan County Health Center, 0% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers

This indicates the percentage of patients that suffered from a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in one position for an excessive period of time.

Minimizes Serious Falls

Grade: C

In Buchanan County Health Center, 5.15% of Patients had Serious Falls

This metric gauges the percentage of long-term stay patients which had a fall resulting in severe injury. This is one of the statistics we use in computing our nursing ratings.

Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections

Grade: C

In Buchanan County Health Center, 3.7% of Patients had UTIs

This indicates the percentage of residents that suffered from a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered to be a measure of the quality of nursing care at a nursing home. UTI's are routinely associated with poor nursing care. However, this metric may be skewed for some facilities due to varying reporting standards for urinary tract infections.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication

Grade: C

In Buchanan County Health Center, 18.38% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication

This measures the percentage of long-term patients receiving antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic drugs serve an important medical purpose, it is important to confirm these medications are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, increased usage of these drugs may suggest a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication

Grade: B-minus

In Buchanan County Health Center, 22.88% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication

This figure indicates the percent of long-term patients receiving antianxiety medications.

Managing Depression Among Residents

Grade: A+

In Buchanan County Health Center, 0% of Patients

This indicates the percent of patients exhibiting depressive symptoms. High levels of depression may be a sign a lower level of care.

Appropriate Vaccine Usage

Grade: B-plus

In Buchanan County Health Center, 98.23% of Patients

This indicates the percent of patients that have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be standard at this point.

Residents Maintain Autonomy

Grade: A

In Buchanan County Health Center, 6.84% of Patients

This indicates the percentage of residents that needed additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's may indicate decline of a resident's medical condition.

Ability to Keep Residents Mobile

Grade: C

In Buchanan County Health Center, 9.61% of Residents

This tells you the percent of patients that were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a good sign for residents' health.

Hospitalizations

Grade: B

In Buchanan County Health Center, 0.01 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days

This metric tracks the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of patient care.

Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations

Grade: A-minus

In Buchanan County Health Center, 9.61% of Residents Rehospitalized

This indicates the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. There is generally a correlation between avoiding hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.

Nearby Hospitals

  • Buchanan County Health CenterCritical Access Hospitals 0 miles away1600 First St East Independence Iowa 50644Voluntary non-profit - Other(319) 332-0999
  • Mercyone Oelwein Medical CenterCritical Access Hospitals 14.36 miles away201 Eighth Avenue Se Oelwein Iowa 50662Voluntary non-profit - Church(319) 283-6000

Nearby Dialysis

  • Buchanan County Dialysis0.04 miles away1600 1st Street East Independence Iowa 50644Dialysis Stations: 12 (319) 334-7437