The Elmhurst Healthcare
743 Main Street, Melrose MA 02176 · (781) 662-7500 · 60.22% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
The Elmhurst Healthcare is one of only two facilities located in Melrose, Massachusetts. This nursing home made our top 500 list of the best facilities in the country. With over 15,000 facilities in the nation, this is an impressive subset of nursing homes. You simply can not do much better than this place. Keep reading to find this facility's category ratings, which also impressed us. You just can't do any better than a straight A report card.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 :
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Short-term Care Quality
One of the many reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it received an A+ in short-term care. This is as good as it gets in this category. Short-term care ratings are meaningful for people looking for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically mandates additional skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes a wide spectrum of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. This facility excelled at the highest level in the two key staffing areas we looked at. It offered about 50% more care from physical therapists and registered nurses than the average nursing home. This is an excellent sign. The final datapoint we assessed in this category is the number of patients that eventually returned home from the nursing home. We found that it fared as well as just about any facility in Massachusetts in this area with 69 percent of its residents returning home. With most facilities, fewer than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.
Facility Inspections
Adding to an already impressive profile, this facility also received virtually flawless health inspections in recent years. As a result, we awarded it an A+ inspection grade. Inspection ratings take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies and federal fines. You can find more information about each of these issues by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This nursing home was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none were considered severe. This indicates that the government inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies to pose an imminent threat to resident safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
We also awarded this nursing home a grade of A+ for its nursing grade. There are several factors within this grade. Many of the factors relate to staffing levels. This facility provides an incredible 4.6 hours of nursing care per patient daily. Out of this total, many of those hours were provided by registered nurses, which is one of the most highly trained levels of nurses. On top of offering impressive levels of care, this facility also excelled in the quality-based metrics we looked at. It performed as well as any facility in the nation in the area of minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls.
Long-term Care Quality
Turning to our final area, this facility also was awarded an A+ long-term care rating, making it one of the few of nursing homes to earn four A+'s. Facilities that receive this type of score in this category typically provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure patients are kept in good health. On top of offering well above average levels of nursing care and other staffing, this facility administered the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its residents. This percentage is also much better than the vast majority of nursing homes. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Elmhurst Healthcare 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
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