Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center

1235 Pelham Parkway North, Bronx, New York 10469

Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is located in Bronx, New York. It has 191 certified beds that have been approved by the federal government to participate in Medicare and Medicaid, with an average of 184.8 residents per day. Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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. The facility is an individually own for profit business doing business under the legal business name of Morris Berkowitz.

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 Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 4 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. Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center’s star rating for health inspections is 4 stars. The date of the most recent health inspection of Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center was January 18, 2019. In that report 1 health citations were noted. The average number of citations for New York is 4.8 and the average number of citations in the United States is 7.8.

As part of the inspection process, the CMS completed a “statement of deficiencies.” An observation noted in the statement of deficiencies was that the facility did not ensure infection control practices were maintained to provide a sanitary environment, and to help prevent the development and transmission of communicable diseases and infections. Specifically, universal precautions and hand hygiene practices were not followed by a Licensed Practical Nurse during and after a midline dressing change observation. When the LPN and other nursing staff was interviewed about the incident, they all confirmed that the LPN was supposed to wash her hands before, during and after performing the midline care. Specifically, after removing the old dressing, after removing gloves and before putting on new gloves, and then before putting on a new dressing.

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. The CMS staffing ratings do take into consideration the differences in the levels of residents' care needs in each nursing home. In this category, Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center received 1 star which is a “much below average” rating.

• The average total number of licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day at Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 52 minutes, while 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 Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 19 minutes compared to 42 minutes for New York and 41 minutes for the United States.
• The LPN/LVN hours per resident per day at Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 32 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 2 minutes, while the New York average is 2 hours and 15 minutes and the national average is 2 hours and 19 minutes.
• Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center does not provide any 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.

Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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. 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. Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center also received 5-star ratings for both short-stay residents and long-stay residents.

Short-stay residents. CMS reviews nursing home records for information related to a number of areas related to patient health.

• Hospitalizations: 21.7% of Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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%.
• 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. 1.2% of the skilled nursing facility residents at Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center had pressure ulcers that were new or worsened while residing at this facility. The national average is 1.6%.
• Mobility. For Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the percentage of short-stay residents who improved in their ability to move around on their own is 89.3%, 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. 98.3% of Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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 82.6% and 82.3%, respectively. As for the percentage of short-stay residents who needed and got a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, the percentage for Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 98.5%, while the average for New York is 79.3% and the average for the United States is 83.2%.

• Hospitalizations. A part of a nursing home’s quality of resident care rating is the number of resident hospitalizations. For Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 long-stay resident days is 1.58, 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 resident, for Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center the number is days is 0.45, while the New York average is 0.74, and the national average is 1.03.
• Falls. The rating also takes into consideration specific medical issues experienced by residents. None of the long-stay residents at Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center experienced one or more falls with major injury, 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 Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center with pressure ulcers is 8.5%, compared to the New York average of 8.6% and the national average of 7.4%.
• Mobility. For Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, percentage of long-stay residents whose ability to move independently worsened is 7.1%, while the New York rate is 16.0% and the national rate is 17.9%
• Flu and pneumonia. Nursing facilities are also evaluated for their flu and pneumonia prevention measures. 100% of Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center’s long-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 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 Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is 100%, while the average for New York is 93.6% and the average for the United States is 93.7%.

Citations can result in penalties. If the citation is particularly serious or if the nursing home takes a long time to cure the citation, the federal government may either fine the nursing home, or deny payment from Medicare. Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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 January 18, 2019. During that inspection 2 citations were noted which is higher than the New York average of 3.5 and national average of 2.9. The deficiencies were related to the gas, vacuum, and electrical systems.

The information about the performance of Morris Park Rehabilitation and Nursing 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.