Lowell Healthcare
710 Michigan St, Lowell IN 46356 · (219) 696-7791 · 89.06% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Lowell Healthcare is an average-sized government-owned nursing home in Lowell, Indiana. This nursing home received an overall grade of B-, which is a solid score. This place seems to have some things going for it. One of the best aspects of this nursing home's profile is its stellar inspection grade, which is addressed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 86 Beds
CCRC :
Government - County
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
We want to draw your attention to the fact that this facility really outperformed its overall grade in the area of inspections. In fact, it received an excellent government inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in this area with an A+. Perhaps the most important factor we consider in computing our inspection grades is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a facility's inspection reports. Places with higher grades in this area typically avoided the most severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. This place was assessed 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none of the deficiencies were considered severe. This tells you that the government inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies an immediate 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
In addition, we gave this facility a grade of B+ in our long-term care category. This is one of our more impressive scores. Long-term care scores in this range generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. One of the factors we considered on top of nursing hours is vaccinations. This facility provided the pneumonia vaccine to 97.586205 percent of its residents. Vaccination is a proven method to minimize unnecessary deaths for the nursing home population. This facility also keeps its patients out of the hospital. While it had 1.97 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, its risk adjusted score was better than the majority of nursing homes due to it having more complex patients.
Nurse Quality
Moving on to another strength for this facility, it also earned an elite nursing score. In fact, we gave this facility a grade of D. Nursing ratings are primarily based on a facility's nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 3.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which is slightly below the national average. Lastly, we also looked at some quality measures in calculating our nursing ratings. This place was above average in two of the metrics we focus on, with solid scores for avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers.
Short-term Care Quality
Switching gears to the fourth area, we awarded this nursing home a grade of D in the area of short-term care. This is the nursing home's weakest category grade. Of course, this category hurt the nursing home's overall profile to some degree. In calculating our short-term care grades, we look at a facility's levels of highly skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other types of therapists. This category is typically a fair assessment of the nursing home's rehabilitation. It looks like this place was subpar in two of the key staffing metrics we focus on. In fact, it provided fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than most facilities. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of patients that ultimately were able to return home from this nursing home. This nursing home didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 37.9 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Lowell Healthcare Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents that suffer from pressure ulcers or bed sores. We consider this statistic when determining our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint gauges the percent of long-term residents who sustained falls resulting in severe injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of major falls could be an indication of lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of residents that suffered from a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care . UTI's are often the result of a nursing home with worse hygiene protocols. However, this metric could be misleading for certain nursing homes due to different reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percentage of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be helpful for many residents, it is important to make sure these medications are being used appropriately. In limited cases, 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 is the percent of patients who were given antianxiety drugs. These medications are prescribed to patients suffering from depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percent of patients who are showing depressive symptoms. High rates of depression may imply a less hospitable environment.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be deadly for nursing home patients, making these types of vaccines important for resident well-being.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percentage of patients who needed additional assistance with activities of daily living over time.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients that were able to retain mobility. Some experts would argue that the ability to move around is vital to residents' mental and physical health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care. Keeping residents out of the hospital is key to maintaining the physical health of patients.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of rehospitalizations 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 is a measure of the percentage of short-term patients who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better