Heritage Hall North
55 Cooper Street, Agawam MA 01001 · (413) 786-8000 · 73.95% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Heritage Hall North is a facility located in Agawam, Massachusetts, a city with a population of 16,769 people. With an overall rating of B+, this is a very good nursing home. We found this nursing home to be better than most of the nursing homes in Agawam, which has a city grade of B. The best aspect of this facility's strong report card was its short-term care score. short-term care grades are discussed in the next paragraph
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 124 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Short-term Care Quality
In addition to being a strong facility overall, this facility also excelled in the area of short-term care, where it received an A+. Few nursing homes fared better in this category. Our short-term care scores are based in part on the facility's quantity of skilled skilled healthcare professionals. This includes a vast spectrum of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, not to mention other forms of therapy. This facility excelled in the two key staffing areas we looked at. It offered more care from physical therapists and registered nurses than the average nursing home. This is generally an excellent sign. Finally, we looked at the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that it outperformed the vast majority of facilities in the country with 63.8 percent of its residents returning home.
Facility Inspections
This nursing home also performed well in our inspection category, which is based on its recent inspections. In fact, we gave it a grade of A for that area. Arguably the most significant factor we look at in determining our inspection scores is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Nursing homes with better grades in this area most likely dodged the most severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.
Nurse Quality
This facility is also strong in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of B+. It outperformed most nursing homes in this category. In calculating a facility's nursing rating, we consider the quantity of hours nurses spend with residents as well as the levels of training of the nurses. This nursing home provides an impressive 4 hours of nursing care per resident on a daily basis. Finally, we also looked at nursing quality measures in determining our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these statistics as predictive indicators of the quality of nursing care provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Long-term Care Quality
The last category we graded was long-term care, in which this facility was given a grade of C. While this turned out to be its least impressive category score, this is nevertheless a middle of the pack score. Our long-term care scores are meaningful for prospective residents seeking non-healthcare services such as personal care. In addition to considering the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 93.72198 percent of its residents, which is somewhat lower than we expected. On a more positive note, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.25 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility has less hospitalizations than most nursing homes.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Heritage Hall North Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also known as bed sores, are routinely the result of patients not being moved frequently enough. Better nursing protocols can limit the number of pressure ulcers sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay residents which have sustained falls which resulted in severe injury. This is one of the statistics we use in calculating nursing ratings.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of residents that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are associated with poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic drugs are prescribed to patients for a variety of conditions, including dementia. Sadly, in some situations, increased usage of these drugs may indicate that a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of patients who were prescribed antianxiety drugs. Antianxiety drugs are prescribed to residents experiencing anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is a measure of the percent of long-term residents who are demonstrating depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for seniors, 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 percentage of long-term residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as dressing and taking a bath. Many would argue this is a measure of a patient's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term residents that remained mobile levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care. There is usually a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and the overall quality of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint measures the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to measure the well-being of patients during rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percentage of short-term residents that saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Many would argue that this is a reliable measure of a facility's rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better