Shuksan Healthcare Center
1530 James Street, Bellingham WA 98225 · (360) 733-9161 · 78.07% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Shuksan Healthcare Center is in Bellingham, Washington. This city has a population of 117,728 people. With a rock bottom overall grade of F, this nursing home isn't high on our list. If you are not happy with this facility's relatively poor overall grade, you will be pleased to know there are six other nursing homes in Bellingham. Lastly, this facility had an ownership change in the last year. Hopefully, new ownership is able to elevate its quality standards.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 52 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Short-term Care Quality
Even though this nursing home's overall grade was abysmal, it actually didn't perform terribly in short-term care. We gave it a grade of B- for that category, which is a decent score. However, this wasn't enough to save its otherwise poor profile. Short-term care ratings are based in part on the nursing home's quantity of skilled nursing services. This includes a wide spectrum of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, not to mention other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. Finally, we considered the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. This was a much stronger area for this facility. We found that it outperformed most facilities in this area with 67.8 percent of its patients returning home. This really bolstered its score in this category.
Facility Inspections
We also wanted to draw your attention to this facility's inspection rating where it received a lowly F. This generally means we found some red flags on its inspection reports. For nursing homes that received this bad of an inspection score, we recommend scrutinizing the severe deficiencies on its inspection report. This nursing home was assessed 9 deficiencies on its inspection report. The only favorable thing we can say is that none of these deficiencies were in the categories that indicate that they caused a threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility also received 19 substantiated complaints in recent years. This is yet another bad sign.
Long-term Care Quality
The third area we analyzed was long-term care. This facility's was given a rock-bottom long-term care grade where it was given an F. When facilities receive this kind of score in long-term care it is often a bad sign for resident care and it may indicate that the nursing home is not as well-staffed with nurses and aids. Once we concluded our assessment of the quantity of care provided by nurses, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination data. We were a bit bothered by the fact that this nursing home vaccinated a relatively low 86.59794 percent of its residents against pneumonia. To our surprise, this place actually fared well at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had just 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. This is its best score in this category.
Nurse Quality
The last area we looked at was nursing. This facility received a poor grade of F in that area. The nursing rating weighs numerous data points. The most heavily weighted factor is the amount of time nurses spent with residents. This facility provided just 1.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a very low total compared to most nursing homes. To pair with its below average totals in the area of nursing hours per resident, this facility had poor scores in some of the quality-based measures we looked at in determining our nursing scores. For starters, we looked at the percent of patients sustaining falls which led to major injury. This nursing home was at more than 150 percent of the national average in this statistic. This is quite concerning in light of the fact that many falls could be avoided with better nursing care. This ended up sealing the nursing home's fate of receiving a poor nursing grade.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Shuksan Healthcare Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This statistic gauges the percentage of long-term stay residents which suffered from new or worsened pressure ulcers. We find that pressure ulcers are a reliable barometer of the quality of nursing care a facility provides.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of residents who have had a fall which caused serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of long-term care residents that suffered from urinary tract infections. Although a higher rate infections could reflect poorly on a facility's cleanliness, it can be problematic to compare between facilities due to reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percentage of patients given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many residents, it is important to ensure these medications are being used appropriately. In limited situations, high levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a facility is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric is an indication of the percent of long-term residents who were given antianxiety medication. These medications are typically given to patients experiencing anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term care residents exhibiting symptoms of depression. Some argue that this is a reliable measure of quality of life.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percentage of residents who were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percentage of residents that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's may indicate erosion of a patient's health.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percent of residents who were able to retain mobility over time. Preserving mobility can be a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. Keeping residents out of the hospital during rehabilitation is important to restoring the physical well-being of patients.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This tells you 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
This is the percentage of short-term stay residents that saw functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living. High levels of performance with ADL's usually correlates with superior rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better