Highland Care Center

91 31 175^th Street, Jamaica, New York 11432

Located in in Jamaica, New York, Highland Care Center has 320 certified beds that have been approved by the federal government to participate in Medicare and Medicaid, with an average of 307.6 residents per day. Highland Care Center is not in a continuing care retirement community, and it is not in a hospital. It has a resident council to facilitate communications with the staff about a variety of matters including concerns and planning activities. The facility is a for profit corporation doing business under the legal business name of Highland Care Center, Inc.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gives each nursing home an overall rating* on a scale of 1 to 5 stars: 5 stars = much above average, 4 stars = above average, 3 stars = average, 2 stars = below average, 1 star = much below average. The CMS also assigns star ratings in the categories of health inspections, staffing, and quality of resident care. The overall rating for Highland Care Center is “average” or 3 stars. The nursing facilities are also regularly inspected to ensure that they are in compliance with fire safety rules.

New York State inspectors regularly conduct full inspections of nursing homes for compliance with federal Medicare and Medicaid regulations. Highland Care Center’s star rating for health inspections is 4 stars which is an “above average” rating. The date of the most recent health inspection of Highland Care Center was August 4, 2018. In that report no health citations were noted. The average number of citations for New York is 4.9 and the average number of citations in the United States is 8.0.

Inspections may also occur at any time during the year based on a complaint submitted by a resident or based on an incident self-reported by the facility. During the last 3 years, there were no complaint inspections, no complaints that resulted in citations, and no facility-reported incidents that resulted in citations.

In rating nursing facilities for staffing the CMS reviews the staffing levels. Specifically, it looks at the number of hours per resident of licensed nurses, registered nurses, nurse aides, licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPN/LVN), and physical therapists. According to the CMS, higher staffing levels may mean better care. In this category, Highland Care Center received 2 stars which is a “below average” rating.

The average total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day at Highland Care Center is 1 hour and 12 minutes, which is lower than the New York average of 1 hour and 31 minutes and the national average of 1 hour and 33 minutes.

The registered nurse hours per resident per day at Highland Care Center is 33 minutes which is also few staff hours compared to 42 minutes for New York and 41 minutes for the United States.

The LPN/LVN hours per resident per day at Highland Care Center is 39 minutes compared to 49 minutes for New York and 53 minutes for the United States.

The nurse aide hours per resident per day is 2 hours and 1 minutes, while the New York average of 2 hours and 15 minutes is higher, as is the national average of 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Highland Care Center provides 5 minutes of physical therapist staff hours per resident per day, compared to the New York average is 7 minutes and the national average is 5 minutes. However, not all nursing home residents require physical therapy.

Highland Care Center’s star rating for overall quality of resident care is 5 stars. Facilities are also rated on their quality of care for short-stay residents and long-stay residents. Highland Care Center received a 4-star rating short-stay residents and a 5-star rating for long-stay residents.

Short-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 (SNF) benefit.

22.3% of Highland Care Center’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%. This statistic is meaningful because if a relatively high number of residents are re-hospitalized, that may indicate that a nursing home’s staff could do a better job at assessing short-stay residents or caring for them.

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. 1.6% of the skilled nursing facility residents at Highland Care Center had pressure ulcers that were new or worsened while residing at this facility. The national average is 1.6%.

Nursing facilities are also evaluated for their flu and pneumonia prevention measures because older people are more susceptible to complications from the flu. 92.4% of Highland Care Center’s short-stay residents received the needed flu shot for current flu season. This percentage is higher than both the New York and national averages which stand at 82.7% and 82.4%, respectively.

As for the percentage of short-stay residents who needed and got a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, the percentage for Highland Care Center is 98%, which is higher than the average for New York of 79.4% and the average for the United States of 83.2%.

Long-stay residents. Long-stay residents are those who spent over 100 days in a nursing home. Highland Care Center’s rating for long-stay residents is 5 stars which is a “much above average” rating.

A part of a nursing home’s quality of resident care rating is the number of resident hospitalizations. For Highland Care Center, the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 long-stay resident days is 1.97, while the New York average is 1.55, and the national average is 1.75. As for the number of outpatient emergency department visits per 1,000 long-stay residents, for Highland Care Center the number is days is 0.60, while the New York average is 0.74, and the national average is 1.03.

The rating also takes into consideration specific medical issues experienced by residents. The percentage of long-stay residents at Highland Care Center experiencing one or more falls with major injury is 2.1, while the New York average is 2.9, and the national average is 3.4.

The percentage of long-stay high-risk residents at Highland Care Center with pressure ulcers is 4.6%, compared to the New York average of 8.6% and the national average of 7.4%.

The percentage of long-stay residents at Highland Care Center with a urinary tract infection is 1.0%, compared to the New York average of 2.4% and the national average of 2.8%.

The percentage of long-stay residents Highland Care Center who report moderate to severe pain is 2.5%, compared to the New York average of 4.0% and the national average of 6.9%.

Citations can result in penalties. If the citation is particularly serious or if the nursing home takes a long to cure the citation, the federal government may either fine the nursing home, or deny payment from Medicare. Highland Care Center has not received a penalty from the federal government in the last 3 years.

Nursing homes that are certified by Medicare and/or Medicaid must meet standards set by the government to ensure residents are safe. Fire safety specialists inspect nursing homes to determine if a nursing home meets the Life Safety Code (LSC) requirements, a set of fire safety and emergency preparedness requirements set by the CMS. These requirements are aimed at preventing fires, or protecting residents in the event of an emergency like a fire, hurricane, tornado, flood, power failure, or gas leak.

The most recent fire safety inspection was October 20,2018. During that inspection 5 citations were noted which is higher than the New York average of 3.5 and national average of 2.9.

The information about the performance of Highland Care Center 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.