Living Center East
1220 Fifth Avenue Se, Cedar Rapids IA 52403 · (319) 366-8701 · 35.67% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Living Center East is a small non-profit facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sporting an overall grade of A+, this nursing home is one of the most elite nursing homes we looked at. We were so impressed with this nursing home that we ranked it as one of the top 50 facilities in the United States. As you can find below, this place performed equally well in our category grades. We give this place two thumbs up!
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 67 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
One of the many reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it received an A+ nursing grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this category. When determining a facility's nursing score, we weigh the quantity of hours nurses commit to patients as well as the skill levels of those nurses. This place provided 5.7 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which is among the highest totals in the country. A significant percentage of those hours were provided by registered nurses, which are one of the more skilled levels of nurses. We were very impressed by both of these statistics. In addition to providing high levels of nursing care, this facility also excelled in the quality-based metrics we looked at. For example, it performed as well as any facility in the state when it comes to avoiding pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these datapoints as reliable measures of the caliber of nursing care provided.
Short-term Care Quality
This nursing home also was given an A+ for its short-term care score. In computing our short-term care scores, we quantify the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The purpose is to create a tool for sizing up the rehabilitation services of various nursing homes. This facility excelled at the highest level in two key staffing areas we looked at. It provided about 50% more care from physical therapists and registered nurses than the typical nursing home. The last datapoint we assessed in this area is the number of patients that were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that it performed as well as just about any facility in Iowa in this area with 74.7 percent of its patients returning home. With most facilities, fewer than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.
Facility Inspections
The next category we looked at was inspections, where this facility also received an A+ grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. Inspection ratings account for several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this area tend to have very few severe deficiencies. Although this nursing home had some deficiencies on its report, none were severe based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
The last category we graded was long-term care. We awarded it another superb score of A+ in this area. This wrapped up a flawless profile of all A+'s. Facilities that excel in this category tend to provide patients with more supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. In addition to offering well above average levels of nurse staffing, this facility gave the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. This figure is also significantly higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. This combination proved to be successful as this facility keeps its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Living Center East Quality Metrics
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of residents that suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to major injury are considered by many experts to be a measure of nursing care . Falls leading to injury are routinely the result of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This statistic is an indication of the percent of long-term residents that had UTI's. While more of these infections may reflect poorly on a nursing home's nursing care, it can be problematic to compare between nursing homes due to inconsistent reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This statistic indicates the percent of long-term patients taking antipsychotic drugs. While antipsychotic drugs serve an important medical purpose, it is important to confirm these drugs are being used only where medically required. In limited situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may mean that a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percentage of residents prescribed antianxiety medications. These medications are commonly prescribed to residents experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is the percent of patients who are demonstrating symptoms of depression. High levels of depression could indicate lower quality care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents who were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This indicates the percentage of patients that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's may indicate decline of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term patient 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 patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This indicates the percent of short-term residents who experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better