North Central Health Care is a nursing home located in Wausau, Wisconsin, which has 54,974 people. With an overall grade of A-, this facility is one of the higher-graded nursing homes we assessed. In fact, we were so impressed with this nursing home that we ranked it ahead of most of the facilities in Wausau, which boasts a good selection of nursing homes. As you can see below, this facility also performed just fine in our category ratings. It would be hard to find any major flaws in this nursing home's profile.
North Central Health Care
- Nursing Home
Updated Apr 1, 2023 by Nick Reese
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Quick Details
- Accepts Medicare 1
- Accepts Medicaid 1
- No CCRC
- Has Resident Council
- No Family Council
- Government - County
- Offers Hospice
- Offers Respite Care
- Offers Inpatient Rehab
Specialized Services
- Transportation
- Speech Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Mental Health
- Physical Therapy
- Nutritional Counseling
- Pharmacy
- Recreational Therapy
- Aquatic Therapy
Registered Staff Hours
Short-term Care Quality
One of the reasons this turned out to be a great facility is that it received a strong short-term care score. In fact, this proved to be its best category. In that category, we awarded this facility an impressive grade of A. Short-term care grades are commonly used to score a facility's performance with rehabilitation. In order to provide highly scored rehabilitation services, facilities generally must offer higher levels of skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other highly trained professionals. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. However, based on the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Lastly, we looked at the percentage of patients who who were able to eventually return home from this facility. We found that 5.8 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.
Facility Inspections
In addition, this nursing home also received a nearly flawless inspection report. As a result, it received one of our best grades in that category with an A. Inspection grades weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher scores in this category usually have few of these severe deficiencies. While this facility had a few deficiencies on its government inspection report, none of them were severe based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
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Long-term Care Quality
This nursing home is also strong in the area of long-term care, where it received a score of B+. It performed more favorably than most nursing homes in this category. For long-term care residents, the primary objective is to maintain residents' quality of life and keep them safe. Once we assessed the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination statistics. This nursing home vaccinated 91.98113 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is a few points less than we expected but still a reasonably acceptable percentage. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.
Nurse Quality
Moving on to our fourth category, this facility was awarded a high-end nursing score. We awarded it a grade of B+ in that area, rounding out one of our more impressive profiles. We scrutinized the qualifications of nurses working for the nursing home, in addition to the number of hours those nurses were with residents, in determining our rating in this area. This facility provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place Wisconsin in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can typically be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as by employing a system of turning residents even once per day.
Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
North Central Health Care Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
In North Central Health Care, 7.35% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents who sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin due to staying in one position for an excessive period of time.
Minimizes Serious Falls
In North Central Health Care, 3.21% of Patients had Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of patients that suffered from a fall which caused severe injury.
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
In North Central Health Care, 3.13% of Patients had UTIs
This statistic is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients who sustained a UTI. UTI's could be a sign of worse hygiene protocols. However, this datapoint may also be skewed for some facilities due to varying reporting standards for these infections.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
In North Central Health Care, 13.64% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percentage of patients given antipsychotic drugs. These drugs may be used for several conditions, including cognitive disorders.
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
In North Central Health Care, 16.32% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percentage of patients prescribed antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are administered to patients suffering from anxiety or depression.
Managing Depression Among Residents
In North Central Health Care, 5.98% of Patients
This metric measures the percent of long-term care residents showing signs of depression. Some would argue that this is a reasonable measure of resident quality of care.
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
In North Central Health Care, 92.12% of Patients
Measures the percentage of long-term residents who received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for seniors, making these vaccines important for resident well-being.
Residents Maintain Autonomy
In North Central Health Care, 13.34% Percentage of Patients
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and using the bathroom. Many argue that this is a reasonable measure of a resident's well-being.
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
In North Central Health Care, 17.08% Percentage of Residents
This is the percent of residents that were able to retain mobility over time. Preserving mobility is usually a great sign for residents' well-being.
Hospitalizations
In North Central Health Care, 1.28 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of care. There is a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and the overall quality of long-term care.
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
In North Central Health Care, 17.08 Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term care.
Short-term Care: ER Visits
In North Central Health Care, 14.13 Percentage of Patients
This tells you the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care.
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
In North Central Health Care, 76.01% Percentage of Resident
This tells you the percent of short-term residents who saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living.
Scores for Wausau, WI
- Overall Rating has a grade of B-plus
- Nurse Rating has a grade of B
- Long-term Care Rating has a grade of B-minus
- Short-term Care Rating has a grade of B-plus
- Inspection Rating has a grade of A-minus
Looking for more options? Wausau, Wisconsin has 3 other nursing homes
Nearby Hospitals
- Aspirus Wausau HospitalAcute Care Hospitals 2.88 miles away333 Pine Ridge Blvd Wausau Wisconsin 54401Proprietary(715) 847-2121
- Ascension St Clares HospitalAcute Care Hospitals 3.75 miles away3400 Ministry Parkway Schofield Wisconsin 54476Voluntary non-profit - Private(715) 393-3000
- Ascension Good Samaritan HospitalCritical Access Hospitals 17.21 miles away601 S Center Ave Merrill Wisconsin 54452Voluntary non-profit - Church(715) 536-5511
Nearby Dialysis
- Davita - Wausau Dialysis2.62 miles away2600 Stewart Ave, Suite 144 Wausau Wisconsin 54401Dialysis Stations: 26 (715) 841-1708
- Aspirus Hosp Dialysis Ctr3.33 miles away3000 Westhill Dr Suite 106 Wausau Wisconsin 54401CMS Rating: 4 stars Dialysis Stations: 16 (715) 847-0019
- Davita - Prairie River Dialysis17.18 miles away601 S Center Ave Merrill Wisconsin 54452Dialysis Stations: 6 (715) 539-0613