Buchanan County Health Center is a nursing home in Independence, Iowa, a city with a total of 8,648 people. With an A+ overall grade, we ranked this facility in the top ten percent of all nursing homes in the nation. 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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Buchanan County Health Center
- Nursing Home
Updated Apr 1, 2023 by Nick Lata
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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
Registered Staff Hours
Facility Inspections
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.
Nurse Quality
This nursing home also received an A+ nursing grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+ category grades. Our nursing score is primarily based on the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. This nursing home performed very well when it comes to avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.
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Long-term Care Quality
Moving on our next area, we gave this facility a grade of A for its long-term care grade. This is a superb grade. Facilities that do well in this category typically provide residents with closer supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. On top of assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility gave the vaccine to 98.58156 percent of its patients, which is significantly higher than most nursing homes. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.
Short-term Care Quality
The last area we scored was short-term care, where this nursing home received a grade of A-. This rounded out a very strong profile. Not many facilities earned an A- or better in every category. In calculating these short-term care ratings, we look at the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The objective is to devise a tool for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not all nursing homes employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. Finally, we assessed the number of residents who eventually returned home from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.
Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Buchanan County Health Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
In Buchanan County Health Center, 6.16% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents which are suffering from pressure ulcers or bed sores. We consider this statistic when determining our nursing grades.
Minimizes Serious Falls
In Buchanan County Health Center, 3.87% of Patients had Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of residents that suffered from a fall resulting in serious injury.
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
In Buchanan County Health Center, 3.28% of Patients had UTIs
This tells you the percentage of residents that suffered from a urinary tract infection. UTI's are often linked to lower quality nursing care. Additional nurse staffing can reduce the number of UTI's sustained by residents in a nursing home. We want to point out that this metric is affected by by the fact that facilities have different reporting standards for UTI's.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
In Buchanan County Health Center, 17.54% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for a variety of conditions, including Alzheimer's or other dementias. Tragically, in some situations, excessive reliance on these medications may suggest a facility is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
In Buchanan County Health Center, 19.26% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of patients who were given antianxiety drugs. These medications are generally given to residents experiencing anxiety or depression.
Managing Depression Among Residents
In Buchanan County Health Center, 4.67% of Patients
This metric measures the percent of long-term stay patients showing symptoms of depression.
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
In Buchanan County Health Center, 93.67% of Patients
This indicates the percent of residents who were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Residents Maintain Autonomy
In Buchanan County Health Center, 17.07% Percentage of Patients
Measures the percent of long-term patients that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as taking medications and bathing. Some argue that this is a reliable measure of a patient's well-being.
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
In Buchanan County Health Center, 16.9% Percentage of Residents
This is the percentage of patients who maintained mobility over time. Optimizing mobility is usually a great sign for residents' well-being.
Hospitalizations
In Buchanan County Health Center, 1.48 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
This tells you the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care.
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
In Buchanan County Health Center, 16.9 Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
This metric tracks the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term resident care.
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