Palatka Health Care Center
110 Kay Larkin Dr, Palatka FL 32177 · (386) 325-0173 · 97.27% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Palatka Health Care Center is a large nursing home located in Palatka, Florida. This nursing home proved to be an A rated facility. It was given one of the most impressive scores that we offer. A grade of this caliber requires superb scores across the board. We were so impressed with this facility that we ranked it in the top quarter of all nursing homes nationally. The best part of this nursing home's report card was is its long-term care rating. Long-term care grades are discussed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 180 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
We also found that this facility excelled in our long-term care rating. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. When nursing homes receive this kind of grade in this category it is a good sign for patient care and suggests that the place is well-staffed with nurses and aids. In addition to considering the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 94.17989 percent of its residents, which is more than the vast majority of nursing homes. Finally, we looked at the facility's number of hospitalizations. We found that this facility had 3.8 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days. While this wasn't as strong as most of its other scores in this category, this figure can be skewed for some nursing homes based on the medical complexity of patients.
Facility Inspections
This facility also received an A+ inspection score, making it one of the rare nursing homes to receive multiple A+'s in our categories. This score is based on the place's inspections. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection scores. One key factor is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies can be relatively insignificant. This nursing home received 2 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This indicates that the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies an immediate threat to resident health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
Another one of this facility's impressive category grades came in the area of nursing care. We awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with a grade of B. The nursing score consists of several factors, however, the primary one is the number of nurse hours per patient per week. This particular nursing home provided 4.2 hours of nursing care per resident per day, which was among the highest totals we found. Finally, this nursing home also excelled in several quality measures we assessed. With fewer than five percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any facility Florida in this category.
Short-term Care Quality
The last area we graded was short-term care. We awarded this nursing home one of our higher scores in that category, with a B. While this was not as strong as some of its other grades, it is nevertheless a fine grade. Short-term care grades are typically used to gauge a nursing home's performance with rehabilitation. To offer highly scored rehabilitation services, nursing homes generally need to provide better levels of skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other licensed professionals. Fortunately, this nursing home offers both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities offer both. Lastly, we considered the percentage of residents who ultimately returned home from this facility. We found that it fared better than most facilities in the nation in this area with 53.3 percent of its patients returning home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Palatka Health Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This statistic tells you the percent of long-term care patients who are suffering from new or worsened pressure ulcers. We've found that pressure ulcers are a solid barometer of a facility's nursing care quality.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of patients that suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to major injury are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care at a nursing home. Major falls are often the result of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure measures the percent of long-term patients who experienced urinary tract infections. UTI's may be an indication of lower quality nursing care. However, this statistic could be skewed for certain nursing homes due to varying reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percent of residents prescribed antipsychotic medications. These drugs are sometimes used for a variety of conditions, such as Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of residents given antianxiety drugs. Antianxiety medications are administered to patients experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percentage of long-term stay residents exhibiting symptoms of depression. Some experts argue that this is a reliable measure of resident quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay patients that were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term residents who required increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as taking medications and eating.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric measures the percentage of long-term stay patients who remained mobile levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
Measures the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care. Avoiding the hospital is important to maintaining the physical health of nursing home residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between staying out of the hospital and a nursing home's quality of short-term rehabilitation.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric tracks 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 tells you the percent of short-term stay residents that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better