Heritage Hall South
65 Cooper Street, Agawam MA 01001 · (413) 786-8000 · 46.22% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Heritage Hall South is a large nursing home in Agawam, Massachusetts. Featuring an overall score of A, this is undoubtedly a world class facility. We were so impressed with this facility that we ranked it in the top 20 percent of all nursing homes in the nation. This facility also received very consistent ratings in each of our categories. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 122 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
On top of its strong overall score, we gave this nursing home a grade of A for our long-term care rating. Nursing homes that receive this kind of grade in long-term care tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure patients are well cared for. On top of considering the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 76.63043 percent of its patients. This is a bit below what we were hoping for but still a decent percentage. The last statistic we assessed was the nursing home's hospitalization rate. We found that this nursing home had 4 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. While this wasn't as impressive as most of its other scores in this area, this statistic can be skewed for some facilities based on the preexisting medical conditions of residents.
Nurse Quality
One of the other reasons we rated this facility so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing score. In that area, we awarded this facility an A. Our nursing grade is based on many components, many of which are based on quantities of nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 3.8 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at some quality-based measures in this category. This facility fared well in some of the quality measures we looked at. By way of illustration, in terms of the number of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, this nursing home performed better than the national average. This is generally an indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Pressure ulcers can many times be prevented with better nursing care.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility also was awarded a favorable short-term care grade. In fact, we gave it an above average score of B+ in this area. Short-term care scores are based in part on the facility's quantity of highly-skilled skilled healthcare professionals. This means a vast range of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. One reason for this facility's strong score in this category is that it provides more care with registered nurses to its residents than the average nursing home. Lastly, we looked at the number of residents that eventually returned home from this nursing home. It fared better than most nursing homes in the nation with 52.9 percent of its patients returning home.
Facility Inspections
Wrapping up its excellent profile, this nursing home also performed well in the area of inspections, which is based on the nursing home's recent government inspection reports. We gave it a B+ for that category, which is one of our higher scores. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in computing our inspection ratings. One key factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies are quite minor. This particular nursing home received 8 deficiencies on its inspection report. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Heritage Hall South Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of patients who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, are routinely the result of patients not being moved frequently enough. Better nursing protocols reduces 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 tells you the percentage of residents that have had a major fall. Falls leading to serious injury are routinely associated with poor nursing care. Better nursing protocols reduces the number of major falls sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of residents who suffered from a urinary tract infection. These infections could be linked to poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percent of residents given antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for a variety of medical conditions, including Alzheimer's or other dementias. Sadly, in limited cases, increased usage of these drugs may suggest a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This datapoint is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay residents taking antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percentage of long-term stay residents demonstrating symptoms of depression. Many believe this is a reliable measure of resident quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. High vaccination rates should be standard at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percentage of residents who needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term care patients who retained mobility levels. Many in the industry believe that the ability to move around is critical to residents' mental and physical well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care. There is usually a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and the overall quality of long-term care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint is a measure of the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This datapoint measures the percent of short-term care residents that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Many in the industry believe that this is a reasonable measure of a facility's rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better