The Laurels of Athens
70 Columbus Circle, Athens OH 45701 · (740) 592-1000 · 95.94% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Located in Athens, Ohio, The Laurels of Athens is one of only two facilities in this area. Sporting an overall rating of B+, this facility should work for most prospective residents. This place definitely has plenty going for it. This facility is better in some categories than others, but it did not have any bad scores in any of the four major categories. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 111 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of being a strong facility overall, it also received A+ government inspections in recent years. Its inspections are virtually perfect. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating these inspection grades. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some can be quite minor. While this nursing home had some deficiencies on its report, none were severe based on CMS' deficiency scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Short-term Care Quality
Among this facility's other accomplishments is its first-rate short-term care score. We awarded them one of our best grades in that area, with a grade of A. In computing our short-term care grades, we analyze a nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other licensed professionals. This grade is considered to be a useful assessment of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. This place provided more physical therapist and registered nurse hours per patient than most nursing homes. This is what we like to find when assessing a facility in this category. Finally, we looked at the percentage of patients who eventually returned home from this nursing home. In addition to excelling in the area of physical therapy, we found that it fared as well as just about any facility in the nation with 64.7 percent of its patients returning home.
Long-term Care Quality
The third area we looked at is long-term care. This facility was given a very positive long-term care score, with a grade of B+ in this category. Nursing homes that excel in this category tend to be well-staffed and provide extensive hands on care to patients. Once we assessed the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we turned to the facility's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 98.35526 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is much higher than the majority of nursing homes. This facility also keeps its residents out of the hospital. Indeed, it had just 1.19 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a substantially better hospitalization rate than the average nursing home.
Nurse Quality
Turning to our last area, this nursing home was awarded a respectable nursing rating. Although this is not quite as elite as some of its other scores, this is truly not a bad grade. We looked at the skill-level of nurses employed by the facility, as well as the number of hours the nurses worked with residents, in determining our grade in this area. According to CMS records, this facility averaged 3.9 hours of nursing care per patient each day. Keep in mind that when we calculate our nursing grades, we apply more weight to hours performed by nurses with a higher level of training. Lastly, this facility was relatively weak in some of the major areas we focus on, with below average scores for minimizing its residents' major falls and pressure ulcers.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Laurels of Athens Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of patients who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also referred to as bed sores, are routinely caused by patients not being moved frequently enough. Better nursing care reduces the number of pressure ulcers sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint gauges the percent of long-term patients which had falls leading to serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of major falls could be a sign of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay residents who have had urinary tract infections. While a higher rate of these infections could reflect poorly on a facility's hygiene protocols, it can be difficult to compare different facilities due to nursing homes having reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for many medical conditions, such as cognitive disorders. Sadly, in some situations, increased usage of these drugs may indicate a nursing home 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 percentage of long-term residents receiving antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percent of patients who are exhibiting signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is the percent of residents that received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as getting dressed and eating.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percent of patients that were able to retain mobility over time. Preserving mobility is often a good sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
Measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint measures 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
Measures the percentage of short-term stay patients who saw functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better