Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; depending on the Madison County nursing facility in which you happen to be. A quick comparison of the three nursing facilities in Madison County reveals stark differences in Madison Health and Rehabilitation, Crosswinds Health and Rehabilitation Center and Lake Park of Madison Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has developed a “star rating” system in order to make it easy for nursing home residents and families to compare the quality of care at nursing facilities within the state. The highest rating, a 5-star rating, is reserved for the top 10 percent of facilities in the state. The middle 70 percent of facilities receive a rating of two, three or four stars with approximately 23.33 percent falling into each of those ratings. The lowest-performing 20 percent receive a 1-star rating. These comparisons are made within the State of Florida to help control for variations among states.
According to medicare.gov., Madison Health and Rehab. has received a 5-star overall rating. This is the highest rating the website gives. This is considered “much above average” compared to other nursing homes. Again, according to the web site, this overall rating is based on the nursing home's performance in three areas: health inspections, staffing and quality of care. Madison Health and Rehab. received a 5-star rating, based on the home's current health inspection plus two prior inspections. Also taken into consideration are findings from the most recent three years of complaint inspections and three years of infection control inspections. In their latest health inspection, dated Friday, Jan. 22, Madison Health and Rehab. did receive two citations. Both of those citations were considered to be of “minimal harm or potential for actual harm” with “few” residents affected. There were no complaints listed between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. There were also no complaints in the last three years that resulted in a citation. Nor were there any facility-reported issues that resulted in a citation. There were no citations from infection control inspections over the past three years. In addition, there were no fire safety citations noted during their latest fire safety inspection. Nationwide, the average for fire safety citations is 3.7. Statewide, that average is 2.5.
In terms of staffing, Madison Health and Rehab. received a 4-star rating, which is considered “above average.” This staffing rating is based on registered nurse (RN) hours per resident per day and total nurse staffing (including RN, licensed practical nurse [LPN] and nurse aide) hours per resident per day. It was revealed that at Madison Health and Rehab., the total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day was two hours and eight minutes, which was higher than both the national average and the state average.
In the area of quality of resident care, Madison Health and Rehab. scored a three out of five stars, which is considered average. This rating is divided into short-stay quality of resident care measures and long-stay quality of resident care measures. In the long-stay quality of resident care, Madison Health and Rehab. scored a 1-star rating, which is considered “much below average.” In the area of short-stay quality of resident care, they scored a 5-star rating, which is considered “much above average.”
Crosswinds Health and Rehab. Center, in Greenville, received an overall rating of 4-stars. This is considered “above average.” During their most recent inspection on Nov. 1, 2019, three health citations were noted. In each case, it was determined to be of “minimal harm or potential for actual harm” with “few” residents affected. There have been two complaints in the past three years that have resulted in a citation. There have been no citations from infection control inspections in the past three years. Crosswinds received one fire safety citation during their last fire safety inspection on Oct. 29, 2019.
Crosswinds received a 4-star staffing rating. The total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day was one hour and 34 minutes, just under the national and state averages.
The quality of resident care rating for Crosswinds was a 3-star rating. This is considered “average.” The short-stay quality of resident care rating was a 2-star rating, which is considered below average. The long-stay quality of resident care was rated at 4-stars, which is “above average.”
Lake Park of Madison has received an overall rating of 1-star, which is “much below average.” During their most recent health inspection, Lake Park received four health citations. The one incident listed in the medicare.gov report was of “minimal harm or potential for actual harm” with “few” residents affected. There were no complaints in the past three years that resulted in citations. There were three instances in the past three years where a facility-reported issue resulted in a citation. There were no infection control citations from the past three years. There were a total of nine fire safety citations from the most recent fire safety inspection, conducted on Feb. 25, 2021. This is well above both the national average of 3.7 citations and the state average of 2.5.
Lake Park received a 3-star rating for staffing, which is considered “average.” The total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day was one hour and 37 minutes, which is just slightly below the state and national averages.
The quality of resident care rating for Lake Park was a 2-star rating, which is below average. The short-stay quality of resident care was average, with a 3-star rating. The long-stay quality of resident care received a below average 2-star rating.
Greene Publishing, Inc. reached out to the administrator at Lake Park of Madison for a statement. The administrator passed the inquiry over to the regional manager. As of press time, no response from Lake Park had been received.