Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation

615 Avenue C, Brooklyn, New York 11218

Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is located in Brooklyn, New York. It has 240 certified beds that have been approved by the federal government to participate in Medicare and Medicaid, with an average of 231.2 residents per day. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is not in a Continuing Care Retirement Community, and it is not in a hospital. It has a resident and family council to facilitate communications with the staff. The facility is a for profit individually owned business under the legal business name of Palm Gardens Care Center LLC. The overall rating for Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is “above average” or 4 out of 5 stars.

Health and fire safety inspections

Health inspections. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation’s star rating for health inspections is 4 stars which is an “above average” rating. About every 15 months New York State inspectors conduct full inspections of nursing homes for compliance with federal Medicare and Medicaid regulations. In addition, at any time during the year a nursing home may also be inspected based on a complaint submitted by a resident or based on an incident self-reported by the facility.

The date of the most recent health inspection of Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation was June 5, 2017. In that report 1 health citation was noted, but no deficiencies were found. The average number of citations for New York is 4.8 and the average number of citations in the United States is 7.8.

In addition, during the last 3 years, there were no complaints that resulted in citations, and there were 3 facility-reported incidents that resulted in citations.

Fire safety inspections. The most recent fire safety inspection was on June 5, 2017. The facility received 1 citation. The deficiency noted related to the gas, vacuum, and electrical systems.

Staffing

According to the CMS, higher staffing levels may mean higher quality of care for residents. Thus, the CMS reviews the staffing levels. For example, the CMS looks at the number of hours per resident of licensed nurses, registered nurses, and physical therapists. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation received a below average rating for staffing. This means that it received two stars out of a possible five.

The total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day at Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is 1 hour and 34 minutes whereas the New York average is 1 hour and 31 minutes and the national average is 1 hour and 33 minutes. The registered nurse hours per resident per day at the facility is 52 minutes compared to 42 minutes for New York and 41 minutes for the United States. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation provides physical therapy staff hours per resident per day an average of 8 minutes. The New York average in this category is 7 minutes, while the national average is 5 minutes. However, not all nursing home residents require physical therapy.

Quality of resident care

CMS reviews nursing home records for information related to a number of areas related to patient health. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation’s star rating for overall quality of resident care is 4 stars. Facilities are also rated on their quality of care for short-stay residents and long-stay residents. Short-stay residents are those who spent 100 days or less in a nursing home, or residents covered under the Medicare Part A Skilled Nursing Facility benefit. Long-stay residents are those who spent over 100 days in a nursing home. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation 3 stars for short-stay residents and 4 stars for long-stay residents.

Short-stay residents. For short-stay residents, the CMS reviews resident records related to hospitalizations, illness, mobility, flu and pneumonia prevention, and rate of returning home.

• Hospitalizations: 29.6% of Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation’s short-stay residents were re-hospitalized after a nursing home admission. The average for New York is 20.4% and national average is 22.6%.
• Pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers, also referred to as bed sores or pressure injuries, are injuries to skin and underlying tissue resulting from prolonged pressure on the skin, such as staying in one position for a long time. 1.5% of the skilled nursing facility residents at Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation had pressure ulcers that were new or worsened while residing at this facility. The national average is 1.6%.
• Mobility. For Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, the percentage of short-stay residents who improved in their ability to move around on their own is 77.5%, while the New York rate is 67.7% and the national rate is 66.8%
• Flu and pneumonia. Nursing facilities are also evaluated for their flu and pneumonia prevention measures. Note that nursing homes are required to provide flu shots each year. However, residents are not required to get flu shots. Any resident has the right to refuse if he or she does not want a shot, has already received the shot, or the flu shot is medically contraindicated. 83.2% of Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation’s short-stay residents received the needed flu shot for current flu season. This percentage is slightly higher than both the New York and national averages which stand at 82.6% and 82.3%, respectively. As for the percentage of short-stay residents who needed and got a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, the percentage for Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is 75.7%, which is lower than average for New York of 79.3% and the average for the nation of 83.2%.
• Returning home. The goal for short-stay residents is generally for them to ultimately return home. For Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation the Rate of successful return to home and community is worse than the national average of 48.6%.

Long-stay residents. The CMS reviews similar statistics for long-stay residents.

• Hospitalizations: For Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 long-stay resident days is 3.00, which is higher than both the New York average of 1.55, and the national average of 1.75. As for the number of outpatient emergency department visits per 1,000 long-stay residents, for Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation the number of days is 1.16, while the New York average is 0.74, and the national average is 1.03.
• Falls. The percentage of long-stay residents at Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation experiencing one or more falls with major injury is 0.4, while the New York average is 2.9, and the national average is 3.4.
• Pressure ulcers. The percentage of long-stay high-risk residents at Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation with pressure ulcers is 23.2%, compared to the New York average of 8.6% and the national average of 7.4%.
• Mobility. For Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, percentage of long-stay residents whose ability to move independently worsened is 7.5%, which is much lower than the New York rate of 16.0% and the national rate of 17.9%.
• Flu and pneumonia. Nursing facilities are also evaluated for their flu and pneumonia prevention measures. 94.6% of Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation’s long-stay residents received the needed flu shot for current flu season. This percentage is lower than both the New York and national averages which stand at 97.0% and 95.6%, respectively. As for the percentage of long-stay residents who needed and got a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, the percentage for Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is 90.5%, which also lower than the New York and national rates of 93.6% and 93.7%.
• Depression. Nursing facilities are also evaluated for the rate at which long-stay residents show signs of depression. For Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, the percentage of long-stay residents who have symptoms of depression is 1.0% compared to the New York average of 6.0% and the national average of 4.6%.

Fines

When a nursing home gets a serious citation or takes too long to fix a problem for which it received a citation, that facility may be assessed a penalty. A penalty can be a fine or a denied payment from Medicare. Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation has not received a penalty from the federal government in the last 3 years.

*Disclaimer

The information about the performance of Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is from Medicare.gov and is based on past performance. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Further, we recommend that you check the statistics yourself at Medicare.gov for both accuracy and updates. Choosing a nursing home is a very difficult decision, and we make no representation as to the quality of any of the facilities or their ratings on the site.

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