Hilltop Care Center
410 Luella Street, Watkins MN 55389 · (320) 764-2300 · 93.4% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Hilltop Care Center is a small nursing home located in Watkins, Minnesota. This turns out to be an A+ facility, which is the very best grade. In fact, we ranked this facility in the top ten percentile of all nursing homes in the nation. This facility also received very consistent ratings in all four of the major categories we assessed. Additional information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 50 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
To go along with its strong overall grade, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A+ for our inspections rating. Arguably the most critical factor we look at in calculating our inspection ratings is deficiencies. These deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places with higher grades in this area typically avoided the most severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. While this nursing home had a few minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G through L. This means that CMS didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
This facility also was given an A+ for its long-term care score. Facilities that receive this kind of grade in long-term care tend to provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are kept in good health. After assessing the significant amount of nursing hours and other staffing provided by this facility, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 99.39759 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is much higher than the average nursing home. This combination proved to be successful as this facility keeps its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.
Nurse Quality
This nursing home also received an A+ for its nursing grade. We scrutinized the levels of nurses at the facility, in addition to the quantity of hours the nurses were with residents, in determining our score in this area. This facility provided 4.3 hours of nursing care per resident each day. This was one of the better totals we found. In addition, a significant portion of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. On top of offering high levels of nursing care, this place also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we looked at. With below 5 percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it fared as well as any facility the country in this category. This is usually an indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls. Many pressure ulcers can be avoided by providing better nursing care and a policy of moving patients more often.
Short-term Care Quality
In the last category, this nursing home also was given a first-rate short-term care rating, with a grade of B+. This completed a first-rate report card. In calculating our short-term care ratings, we size up a facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists occupational therapists and other highly trained professionals. This score is considered to be a fair measure of the facility's ability to rehabilitate patients. This nursing home elevated its grade in this category by offering more care from registered nurses to its residents than the average facility. The last metric we looked at in this area is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We discovered that 40.7 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Hilltop Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents who sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also referred to as bed sores, are often the result of residents staying in one position for too long. Better nursing protocols can reduce the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain pressure ulcers.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who have had falls which resulted in major injury. This is one of the statistics we use in computing our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of residents who sustained a urinary tract infection. UTI's are often linked to facilities with worst hygiene practices. Better hygiene protocols reduces the number likelihood of residents sustaining infections. We want to point out that this metric is affected by by the fact that nursing homes have incongruent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for a variety of conditions, including Alzheimer's or other dementias. Unfortunately, in limited situations, increased usage of these drugs may suggest that a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percent of residents who were given antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are prescribed to patients suffering from anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is the percent of residents demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percent of residents who were given the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term care patients that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as getting dressed and continence. Many argue this is a reasonable measure of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who were able to retain mobility. Many in the industry argue that the ability to move around is important for patients well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between staying out of the emergency room and the overall quality of rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This indicates the percent of short-term care patients that experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living. Higher levels of autonomy with ADL's generally correlates with superior rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better