Signature Healthcare at Tower Road
26 Tower Rd, Marietta GA 30060 · (770) 422-8913 · 113.3% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Signature Healthcare at Tower Road is one of seven facilities in Marietta, Georgia. We gave this nursing home a very respectable overall score of B. In fact, this is ranked among the top three facilities in the city. Based on our ratings, this nursing home ought to meet the needs of most people. The best part of this nursing home's impressive profile is its inspection rating. Inspection grades are discussed in the next paragraph
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 100 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
In addition to being a quality nursing home overall, this nursing home especially excelled in our inspections category, where it earned an A. Not many facilities fared better in that category. Inspection grades weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with better grades in this category usually have few severe deficiencies. While this facility had a few deficiencies on its inspection report, none of them were serious based on CMS' scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
We also gave this facility a score of A- for our long-term care grade. For residents seeking a permanent place to live rather than rehabilitation, long-term care is an important category. Even though we determined this nursing home had a favorable volume of nursing care provided by aids and other nursing staff, we found its vaccine statistics to be somewhat low. This nursing home provided the pneumonia vaccine to just 88.888885 percent of its residents. This is one figure we would love to see this facility improve on. Lastly, we looked at the facility's number of hospitalizations. Here we found that this nursing home had 2.56 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Short-term Care Quality
The next category we assessed was short-term care. This nursing home was awarded a very positive short-term care score, with a grade of B+ in this area. In our short-term care grade, we seek to craft a sound measure for rehabilitation services. In doing so, we analyze a facility's levels of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. One reason for this nursing home's impressive score in short-term care is that it offers a significantly greater volume of physical therapist hours to its residents than a typical facility. Lastly, we looked at the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that it outperformed the vast majority of facilities with 62.7 percent of its patients returning home.
Nurse Quality
Switching gears to the last area, this nursing home really didn't fare very well. With a poor grade of F in nursing, this was notably this facility's worst category grade. Our nursing rating looks at the nursing home's nurse staffing levels. We consider both the levels of training of the nurses as well as the quantity of hours spent with patients. According to CMS records, this nursing home averaged 3.9 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This was actually above the national average. Keep in mind, however, that when we compute our nursing ratings, we apply more weight to hours performed by nurses with a higher level of skill. Finally, we turn to some quality-focused statistics in rounding out our nursing scores. Specifically, we look at the percent of patients who sustained pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these data points as predictive measures of the quality of nursing care, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Signature Healthcare at Tower Road Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents that have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be a measure of the quality of nursing care at a nursing home. Pressure ulcers, which are also called bed sores, are often the result of residents not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This figure gauges the percent of long-term patients who suffered falls which caused severe injury. This is one of the statistics we use in determining our nursing ratings.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This measures the percentage of long-term stay patients that experienced a UTI. UTI's may be a sign of poor nursing care. However, this statistic may be skewed for some nursing homes due to varying reporting standards for these infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percentage of patients given antipsychotic medications. These medications may be used for several medical conditions, including Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percent of patients prescribed antianxiety medications. Antianxiety medications are administered to residents suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percent of long-term care patients exhibiting symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients that received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be very dangerous for seniors, making these vaccines critical to patient care.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric measures the percent of long-term residents that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and continence. Some experts argue this is a reliable measure of a patient'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 retained mobility levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care. There is generally a correlation between staying out of the hospital and the quality of long-term care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is usually a correlation between reduced hospitalizations and the quality of rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
Measures 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 indicates the percentage of short-term stay patients that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Higher levels of autonomy with ADL's often correlates with better rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better