The Bluffs
3105 Bluff Creek Drive, Columbia MO 65201 · (573) 442-6060 · 77.19% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
The Bluffs is a nursing home in Columbia, Missouri, which has 139,474 people. This is a good nursing home with a B overall. This was right in line with the city grade in Columbia. This nursing home truly has plenty of good features. This place's impressive report card was highlighted by its inspection grade, which is addressed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 132 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
One of the reasons this place is a strong facility is that it earned an impressive inspection grade. In fact, inspections turned out to be its best category grade. In that area, we awarded this facility an A. Inspection grades weigh a host of factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this category generally have very few of these severe deficiencies. This facility was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered severe. This means that the inspectors did not deem any of these deficiencies to cause an immediate threat to resident safety or health. Keep in mind that deficiency-free inspection reports are rare in the industry.
Nurse Quality
This nursing home also received a strong nursing score. In fact, we awarded it an above average grade of B+ in this area. Nursing ratings are primarily associated with a facility's nurse staffing. With 4.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day, this nursing home surpassed the overwhelming majority of facilities. Lastly, this place also performed well in several of the quality measures we looked at. In terms of the number of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, this place performed better than the national average.
Short-term Care Quality
Turning to another strength for this nursing home, we awarded them one of our better grades in our short-term care category as well, with a B+. Short-term care ratings are critical for people seeking rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically utilizes more highly-skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes a wide spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. We were pleased to find that this nursing home employs both registered nurses and physical therapists. The same can't be said for all nursing homes. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that it outperformed the majority of nursing homes in the nation with 54.5 percent of its residents returning home. This is a better rate than most nursing homes.
Long-term Care Quality
Our last area is long-term care, in which we gave this facility a grade of C in that area. In our long-term care rating, we focus on the quantity of services offered by a nursing home, as well as a handful of qualitative metrics. This facility's vaccination records lagged a bit behind some of its other statistics in this category, such as its nursing hours data. It administered the pneumonia vaccine to just 19.662924 percent of its patients. We would like to see some improvement in this area in the future. Fortunately, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 1.46 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility has less hospitalizations than the average nursing home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Bluffs Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of patients that sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in one position for too long.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percent of patients who sustained a fall leading to serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay residents which had a UTI. UTI's could be an indication of a nursing home with worse hygiene protocols. However, this datapoint may also be misleading for some nursing homes due to varying reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This statistic indicates the percent of long-term care patients receiving antipsychotic drugs. While antipsychotic medications serve an important medical purpose, it is important to confirm these drugs are being used only where medically required. In some cases, increased usage of these drugs may suggest a facility is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percentage of long-term patients that were prescribed antianxiety drugs. These drugs are typically given to residents suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is a measure of the percent of long-term care residents who are demonstrating depressive symptoms. Many believe that this is a reliable measure of quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percentage of residents who were given the flu and pneumonia vaccines. High vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of residents who required increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of needing for assistance with ADL's could be a sign of erosion of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term stay patients who remained mobile levels. Some would argue that the ability to move around is important for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of patient care. Minimizing hospitalizations is important to the physical health of residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric is a measure of the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to measure short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percentage of short-term stay residents that experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better