Mt Baker Care Center
2905 Connelly Avenue, Bellingham WA 98225 · (360) 734-4181 · 80.85% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Mt Baker Care Center is a senior living facility located in Bellingham, Washington, a city with 117,728 people. With an overall score of A, this facility proved to be a better option than most of the nursing homes in Bellingham. Based on our assessment, this facility is simply as good as it gets. We also gave this nursing home strong grades in all four of the major categories. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 70 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
On top of being a first rate nursing home overall, this nursing home also excelled in the category of nursing, where it received an A+. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. Our nursing score is primarily associated with a facility's nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 5.1 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This was one of the better figures we found. In addition, we found that a significant percentage of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. Both of these statistics are impressive. On top of offering high levels of care, this place also excelled in the quality measures we assessed. For example, it performed as well as any facility in Washington in terms of minimizing its residents' major falls and pressure ulcers. We look at these metrics as good indicators of the quality of nursing care being provided.
Short-term Care Quality
We also wanted to point out the fact that this nursing home performed well in our short-term care category. We awarded them an impressive score of A+ in this category. Short-term care scores are based in part on a facility's quantity of highly-skilled nursing services. This includes a broad spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, in addition to other forms of therapy. This nursing home provides more services with physical therapists and registered nurses than most nursing homes we looked at. This is usually a favorable sign. The final datapoint we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We found that it fared as well as just about any nursing home in Washington in this area with 63.2 percent of its residents returning home. For most facilities, fewer than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.
Facility Inspections
Tallying another strong category grade, this nursing home also excelled in the area of inspections, where it received a score of A-. Few facilities performed better in this category. Our inspection ratings weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One key criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this area generally have few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this facility had some minor dings on its government inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G through L. This means that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Remember that deficiency-free inspections are rare in this industry.
Long-term Care Quality
The last area we graded is long-term care, where this facility was given a B. Believe it or not, this is this nursing home's least impressive area. A nursing home could be doing a lot worse when their poorest score still outperforms most other facilities. When facilities receive a score in this range in long-term care it generally means it's well-staffed and is a quality place to live on a permanent basis. In addition to patient-friendly nursing hour statistics, this nursing home's vaccination statistics was top notch also. In fact, it vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Lastly, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Mt Baker Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also called bed sores, are routinely the result of residents staying in one position for too long. Better nursing care minimizes 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 indicates the percentage of residents who have had a major fall. Falls resulting in severe injury are often the result of poor nursing care. Better nursing protocols minimizes the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain major falls.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This statistic measures the percent of long-term stay residents who have suffered from a UTI. UTI's could be a sign of poor nursing care. Nevertheless, this statistic can be misleading for certain nursing homes due to inconsistent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many patients, it is important to ensure these medications are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may mean a facility is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This measures the percentage of long-term care patients that were given antianxiety drugs. These medications are used to treat patients experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percentage of long-term care residents demonstrating symptoms of depression. Many in the industry believe this is a reliable measure of quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric measures the percent of long-term stay residents who received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be very dangerous for seniors, making these types of vaccines indispensable.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is the percent of patients that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may indicate deterioration of a resident's medical condition.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This indicates the percentage of residents that were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a good sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of times residents are rehospitalized 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 patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percent of short-term patients who saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Many in the industry argue this is a reliable measure of rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better