Thorne Crest Retirement Center
1201 Garfield Avenue, Albert Lea MN 56007 · (507) 205-9004 · 82.3% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Thorne Crest Retirement Center is a small non-profit nursing home located in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Sporting an overall rating of A-, this facility is ranked among the more impressive facilities we assessed. We were so impressed with this facility that we ranked it in the top third of all facilities in the country. This place's impressive profile was highlighted by its nursing grade, which we will address in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 52 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
One of the many reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it received an impressive nursing score. In this area, we awarded this facility an A. In calculating a facility's nursing rating, we consider the number of hours nurses spend with patients as well as the skill levels of the nurses. This nursing home boasts a really impressive 4.4 hours of nursing care per resident each day, of which a significant percentage of those hours were provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly trained levels of nurses. This is among the higher totals of nursing hours we found. On top of offering high levels of care, this nursing home also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we assessed. With under 5 percent of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place the nation in this category. This is typically an indicator that a place has reliable quality controls in place. Many pressure ulcers can be prevented by providing better nursing care and having a protocol of moving residents more often.
Facility Inspections
Adding to this facility's impressive resume, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A for our inspections rating. We take several aspects of a facility's inspection report into consideration in determining these inspection ratings. One key factor is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more important than the quantity of deficiencies, as some are relatively insignificant. This nursing home was assessed 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This means that CMS didn't consider any of these deficiencies to be an immediate risk to resident health or safety. A couple minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.
Short-term Care Quality
This nursing home also was dominant in the area of short-term care, where we awarded it a score of A-. Very few nursing homes performed better in this category. In our short-term care assessment, we strive to craft a meaningful measure for rehabilitation. In this process, we analyze the nursing home's scope of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as speech therapy. This nursing home elevated its grade in this category by offering more care from registered nurses to its residents than the average facility. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents that who were able to eventually return home from the facility. This place fared better than most nursing homes in this area with 50.6 percent of its residents returning home.
Long-term Care Quality
The next category we analyzed was long-term care. This facility was awarded a favorable long-term care grade this year, with a grade of B-. While this wasn't quite as impressive as several of its other category grades, this is nevertheless a decent score in this area. In a long-term care setting, the nursing home's primary goal is to maintain patients' quality of life and keep them safe. In addition to patient-friendly nursing hour statistics, this facility's vaccination records are favorable as well. Indeed, this nursing home vaccinated 98.70968 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Thorne Crest Retirement Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This figure measures the percentage of long-term care residents who developed pressure ulcers . We use this statistic in calculating both nursing and long-term care grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percent of residents that suffered from a fall leading to severe injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of patients that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are sometimes associated with poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percent of long-term care patients who were administered antipsychotic medication. Excessive reliance on these medications may suggest that a facility is using these medications to control patient behavior in situations where such medications aren't medically required. However, some facilities may need to rely more on these drugs due to an increased number of residents with dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of patients given antianxiety medications. These medications are given to patients suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients demonstrating signs of depression. Some would argue this is a reliable measure of quality of life.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term care patients who were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may be a sign of decline of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percentage of patients that were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term care. Staying out of the hospital during rehabilitation is important to restoring the physical abilities of patients.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is 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 a measure of the percentage of short-term patients that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Some would argue that this is a measure of a facility's rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better