Care One at Lowell
19 Varnum Street, Lowell MA 01850 · (978) 454-5644 · 92.31% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Care One at Lowell is a large nursing home located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Featuring an overall score of B, this looks like a good option. Based on our assessment, you can do much worse than this facility. The best part of this facility's impressive profile is its inspection reports. Inspection grades are discussed in the next section
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 160 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of performing well in its overall grade, this facility performed at an even higher level in the area of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A. Arguably the most critical factor we consider in determining our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Nursing homes with higher scores in this category most likely dodged the most severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. This facility was assessed 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none were considered to be severe. This indicates that the inspectors didn't deem any of these deficiencies an imminent risk to resident health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
One of the other reasons we graded this nursing home so well is that it received a strong long-term care grade. Indeed, long-term care ended up being its second most favorable category score. In that category, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A. Nursing homes that receive this type of score in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to ensure residents are well cared for. After we finished looking at the amount of care provided by nurses, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. This facility vaccinated 82.89703 percent of its residents against pneumonia. This nursing home also keeps its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had just 1.48 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Nurse Quality
In addition, this facility also received favorable nursing grades this year. In fact, we awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with a grade of B. We weighed the skill-level of nurses at the facility, in addition to the number of hours the nurses spent with residents, in determining our grade in this category. This facility provided 3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this place excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place the state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by employing a protocol of moving a resident more often.
Short-term Care Quality
The next category we rated was short-term care, which ended up being this nursing home's least impressive category. We gave it a lowly F for this category, which is clearly a bit concerning. Our short-term care grade is generally employed to assess a facility's rehabilitation services. To provide good rehabilitation services, facilities generally need to provide better levels of highly skilled nursing. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other types of therapists. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other facilities. Finally, we looked at the number of patients that returned home from this facility. This facility didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 16.5 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Care One at Lowell Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are skin damage resulting from remaining in one position for an excessive period of time.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of residents who sustained a major fall. Falls leading to major injuries are considered to be a barometer of nursing care . Major falls are often caused by lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure indicates the percentage of long-term stay patients who suffered from a UTI. While more of these infections may reflect poorly on a nursing home's nursing care, it can be difficult to compare different nursing homes due to reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients receiving antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications serve an important medical purpose, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may mean a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percentage of patients prescribed antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are prescribed to residents suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients showing depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay patients who received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be deadly for nursing home patients, making these types of vaccines critical to patient care.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term patients who required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as moving around and using the bathroom.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric tracks the percentage of long-term stay residents that retained mobility levels. Some believe that the ability to move around is vital to patients physical and mental well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
Measures the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. There is generally a correlation between reduced hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better