Universal Health Care/Fletcher
86 Old Airport Road, Fletcher NC 28732 · (828) 654-9060 · 88.44% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Universal Health Care/Fletcher is the sole option we identified in Fletcher, North Carolina. We awarded it an overall grade of B-, which is a middle of the pack rating. In our view, this facility looks like a solid choice for most people. One of the major highlights of this facility's profile is its exemplary inspection grade, which you can find in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 90 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
The primary reason this turned out to be a decent nursing home is that it received an excellent inspection score. In fact, its inspection score was far superior to its overall grade. In our inspections category, we gave this facility a grade of A+. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating these inspection ratings. One critical factor is health deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of deficiencies is arguably more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some end up being quite minor. This nursing home was assessed 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none were considered to be severe deficiencies. This tells you that the government inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies to pose an immediate risk to resident health or safety. We should note that deficiency-free inspections are uncommon in this industry.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility also performed favorably in the area of short-term care, with top notch grade of A- in this area. Our short-term care grades are critical for people seeking rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally requires additional skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means a broad spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. The last statistic we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who who were able to eventually return home from the nursing home. We found that it performed as well as just about any facility in North Carolina in this metric with 65.6 percent of its patients returning home. Unfortunately, at most facilities, less than half of their short-term residents return home.
Nurse Quality
Another strength of this facility is its favorable grade in nursing. We gave them one of our better scores in that area, with an D. Our nursing grade is largely associated with the facility's nurse staffing. This place offered just 2.8 hours of nursing care per patient per day. This figure is significantly below average. To go along with its subpar totals in the area of nursing hours per resident, this place also didn't fare as well in the quality-based measures we looked at in determining our nursing ratings. We looked at the percent of residents experiencing major falls and pressure ulcers. This nursing home had more falls and pressure ulcers than the average facility.
Long-term Care Quality
This facility's least impressive category was long-term care, which is the final area we assessed. We gave it a lowly F in this category. Despite a few solid grades in other areas, this score is nevertheless of a concern so we felt obligated to draw your attention to it. In a long-term care environment, the nursing home's primary objective is to keep patients as healthy and safe as possible. This is different than skilled nursing or short-term care where the goal is to rehabilitate patients. Once we concluded our assessment of the amount of care provided by nurses, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination statistics. We were optimistic to find that this facility vaccinated 98.09886 percent of its residents against pneumonia. Surprisingly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 0.61 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility had less hospitalizations than the average nursing home. Unfortunately, some of its other scores in this category weren't as favorable as these.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Universal Health Care/Fletcher Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care residents which developed pressure ulcers. We find that pressure ulcers are a reliable barometer of the quality of nursing care a facility provides.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term residents that sustained a fall which resulted in serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of major falls may be an indicator of lower levels of patient supervision.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of patients that sustained a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many experts to be a barometer of the quality of nursing care . UTI's are routinely linked to a nursing home with worse hygiene protocols. Nevertheless, this datapoint can also be misleading for some facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for UTI's.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents given antipsychotic drugs. These medications may be used for treating a variety of conditions, such as Alzheimer's or other dementias.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This tells you the percentage of patients given antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are given to patients suffering from depression or anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients who are exhibiting symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay patients who needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and continence.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This indicates the percent of patients who maintained mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term patient care. There is usually a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This metric measures the percentage of short-term care patients who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better