Lutheran Care Center
702 West Cumberland, Altamont IL 62411 · (618) 483-6136 · 61.04% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Lutheran Care Center is an average-sized non-profit nursing home located in Altamont, Illinois. We awarded this nursing home an A overall grade, ranking it in the top fifth of all nursing homes in the United States. Based on the data we reviewed, you can't go wrong with this facility. This nursing home also received consistently good ratings in all four of the major categories. Additional information about its category grades can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 96 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
One of the many reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it received an A+ long-term care grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this category. When facilities receive this type of score in this category it is a good sign for patient care and indicates that the place is well-staffed with nurses aids. After we finished assessing the quantity of nursing care, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination statistics. This nursing home vaccinated 99.570816 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia sadly is often a deadly condition for nursing home patients so we prefer when a facility does not take any chances. The last datapoint we looked at was its hospitalization rate. Here we found that this place had 2.38 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Facility Inspections
This facility has also received near flawless health inspections in recent years. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection scores. One of those factors is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some end up being relatively insignificant. Fortunately, although this nursing home had a few minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
Adding to its strong resume, this facility also received an excellent nursing score, with a grade of A-. In calculating our nursing ratings, we factor in both nursing hours and the skill levels of those nurses. This facility provided 3.7 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this nursing home excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home the country in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can typically be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a system of moving patients more frequently.
Short-term Care Quality
Turning to the next category, this nursing home also performed admirably in our short-term care category. In fact, we awarded it a B+ for this category. This finalized a first-rate profile. Our short-term care scores are crucial for prospective residents in need of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically mandates higher levels of skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means a broad scope of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. Finally, we looked at the percentage of residents who eventually returned home from this facility. We found that 41.8 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Lutheran Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This statistic is an indication of the percentage of long-term patients who are suffering from pressure ulcers . We consider this statistic when determining our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of patients who have had a fall leading to major injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percentage of residents that sustained a urinary tract infection. UTI's are considered to be a measure of the quality of nursing care . UTI's are often linked to a facility with lower levels of hygiene. Nevertheless, this metric may also be skewed for certain facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for UTI's.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percent of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many patients, it is important to make sure these medications are being used appropriately. In limited situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric gauges the percent of long-term care patients which are prescribed antianxiety drugs. These medications are generally used to treat residents experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percent of patients exhibiting signs of depression. Increased rates of depression may reveal a less hospitable environment.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that have received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living may indicate the deterioration of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percentage of patients who maintained mobility over time. Retaining mobility can be a great sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care. Avoiding hospitalizations is key to the physical health of residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term resident care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is generally a correlation between keeping patients out of the emergency room and the overall quality of nursing home care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of short-term care residents who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better