Regency Care Center
815 High Road, Norwalk IA 50211 · (515) 981-4269 · 69% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Regency Care Center is an average-sized nursing home located in Norwalk, Iowa. This facility received an overall grade of D, which is a lower end grade. At the end of the day, we would be very reluctant to recommend this facility. The best thing we can really say about this nursing home is that it did not receive any F's in in any of the major categories. More information about these categories is available below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 101 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
While we were not very complementary of this nursing home's overall grade, it received a very impressive inspection report this year. In fact, it received an excellent inspection report this year. As a result, it earned one of our highest scores in that category with an A-. These inspection ratings take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies and substantiated complaints. You can learn more about each of these items by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This nursing home received 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This means that CMS didn't deem any of the deficiencies to be an imminent threat to resident safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies aren't the end of the world.
Nurse Quality
One of the other reasons we rated this facility so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing score. This turned out to be its second best category grade. In that area, we awarded this facility an B-. We weighed the licensure of nurses working for the facility, in addition to the number of hours the nurses spent with residents, in calculating our score in this area. Based on the CMS data, this nursing home offers 3.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing scores also include quality-based metrics, such as avoiding major falls. This place performed above average in this area.
Long-term Care Quality
The third best category we gave this nursing home in any category came in the area of long-term care, where we gave it a C. For patients looking for a permanent place to live rather than rehabilitation, long-term care is a very important category. Once we looked at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination data. We were a bit worried that this facility vaccinated 79.60784 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is several points below what we expected. Unfortunately, this nursing home's hospitalization rate was worse than we hoped. Here we found that this place had 2.67 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Although this figure is somewhat concerning, this statistic may be skewed for some facilities based on the preexisting medical conditions of residents
Short-term Care Quality
Switching gears to the final area, we awarded this facility a grade of D in short-term care. This was the nursing home's least impressive category score. Our short-term care ratings are arguably more meaningful for folks in need of rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually requires more highly-skilled nursing services. This includes not just nursing services, but also physical and occupational therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Considering its grade in this category, we weren't surprised to discover that this facility was well below average in terms of its number of registered nurse and physical therapy hours provided to its residents based on the figures we assessed. The last datapoint we assessed in this area is the percentage of patients that ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. This facility struggled quite a bit in this area as well, with just 38.8 percent of its patients returning home. This was well below average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Regency Care Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents who sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also referred to as bed sores, are often the result of residents staying in one position for too long. Better nursing protocols can reduce 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 metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who have had falls which resulted in major injury. This is one of the statistics we use in computing our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of residents who sustained a urinary tract infection. UTI's are often linked to facilities with worst hygiene practices. Better hygiene protocols reduces the number likelihood of residents sustaining infections. We want to point out that this metric is affected by by the fact that nursing homes have incongruent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for a variety of conditions, including Alzheimer's or other dementias. Unfortunately, in limited situations, increased usage of these drugs may suggest that a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percent of residents who were given antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are prescribed to patients suffering from anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is the percent of residents demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percent of residents who were given the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term care patients that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as getting dressed and continence. Many argue this is a reasonable measure of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who were able to retain mobility. Many in the industry argue that the ability to move around is important for patients well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between staying out of the emergency room and the overall quality of rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This indicates the percent of short-term care patients that experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living. Higher levels of autonomy with ADL's generally correlates with superior rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better