6401 N. CHARLES STREET
BALTIMORE, MD 21212
(410) 377-7774
Maria Health Care Center, in Baltimore, operates a facility of 32 certified beds, serving both short-term and long-term residents. A nonprofit organization that has been in business for 60 years, it is owned by SSND Care, Inc., otherwise known as the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a religious organization that conducts missions in North America, Africa, and Asia. This facility's full name is "Villa Assumpta and Maria Health Care Center." It is conveniently located less mile from GBMC.
We are nursing home lawyers. We find flaws in and pick apart these nursing homes. But this is such a hard nursing home to criticize. With top 5-star Medicare ratings straight across the board, including an overall 5-star rating, Maria Health Care Center is almost in a class by itself.
Its impressive achievement may be traceable in part to the strong religious and philosophical motivation of its operators. Maryland needs less big chain nursing homes and more facilities like this. Another factor behind its top scores may be its size: this Baltimore facility has just 32 certified beds - all occupied, at last official count. Attractive as this facility appears, based on its inspection scores, it currently has no vacancies.
Maria Health Care Center Nursing Home, in Baltimore, operates a facility of 32 certified beds, serving both short-term and long-term residents. A nonprofit organization, it is owned by SSND Care Inc., otherwise known as the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a religious organization that conducts missions in North America, Africa, and Asia. This facility's full name is "Villa Assumpta and Maria Health Care Center."
With top 5-star Medicare ratings straight across the board, including an overall 5-star rating, Maria Health Care Center is almost in a class by itself. Its impressive achievement may be traceable in part to the strong religious and philosophical motivation of its operators. Another factor behind its top scores may be its size: this Baltimore facility has just 32 certified beds - all occupied, at last official count. Attractive as this facility appears, based on its inspection scores, we should not be surprised it has no vacancies.
Top ScoresIt stands to reason that it is easier to maintain high quality at a small facility than at a large one: if you have only 32 residents in total, you are not apt to face as many challenging circumstances as a facility with five times as many. This blanket statement is an oversimplification because there are economies are scale that can some logistical things tougher or smaller nursing homes. But it is largely true that smaller nursing homes generally do better than large ones if you look at the Medicare statistics.
For whatever reason or combination reasons, Maria Health Care has attained some remarkable records. Its last standard health inspection, in November of 2015, turned up zero deficiencies: hardly any facility anywhere can match that.
Maria Health Care got five stars for staffing even though this facility was just about average in terms of the total nursing time per resident per day (2 minutes under the national average). But this facility placed great emphasis on RN time: over half an hour longer per day than either the Maryland or U.S. averages (Maria got a 5-star rating for RN staffing). It also emphasized time spent by certified nursing assistants (about an hour and a quarter more per resident daily than the state and national averages). It provided about an average amount of daily time with physical therapists, but only minimal time with LPNs and LVNs (licensed practical nurses, licensed vocational nurses): a mere nine minutes per resident per day (about one-fifth the state and U.S. averages). Maria Health Care appears to prioritize its categories of nurse staffing.
Almost PerfectThe Medicare category of quality measures brought yet another 5-star rating. In this category Maria Health Care starts showing in real detail why it got five stars for everything.
In five of nine measured categories for short-stay residents, Maria was not only good but extremely good. Short-stay residents here had no problems with pressure ulcers (bed sores): zero percent occurrence. Better than nine in ten residents (91.3 percent) improved their functionality (versus about six in ten, on average, statewide and nationally). Only 3.3 percent of these residents reported having significant pain; the averages for Maryland and the U.S. were four to five times higher. All of these residents got flu shots, and nearly all got shots for pneumonia.
The single anomalous metric was for usage of antipsychotic meds: for short-stay residents, this facility's usage rate was half a point higher than the state and national averages. (For reasons unexplained, Medicare said that data for three measured categories were unavailable.)
This facility carried its stellar performance into the category of long-stay residents. All of them got flu and pneumonia shots. None of them were subjected to physical restraints. None of them required ongoing catheterization. Needless to say, this facility beat the state and national averages on these points.
Practically none of these long-term residents had urinary tract infections (1.7 percent), and practically none reported having severe pain (0.8 percent); again, this facility thoroughly crushes the state and national averages. Its long-stay residents also had significantly fewer pressure ulcers or falls with injury than average (two events that are the genesis of most Maryland nursing home cases). Maria Health residents were more likely to maintain their independence in daily activities, and less likely to need anti anxiety meds, or lose too much weight.
But nobody's perfect. Long-term residents here were a bit more likely to experience a decline in their mobility, and they were far more likely to be incontinent (78.8 percent, versus 58.5 percent for Maryland, 46.8 percent nationally). And - most notably, these Maria residents were much more apt to be depressed: 13.6 percent of these residents had depressive symptoms - well over twice the state and national averages.
Still, if Maria Health Care were to expand its operations and create a few more vacancies, we doubt this facility would have a hard time filling them.
Maria Health Care CompetitorsMaria Health Care has 22 nursing home competitors within two miles, all but five of them in Baltimore. Yet in a sense, Maria Health Care - with 5-star Medicare ratings across the board - has almost no competition. Here's a look at the field:
Have you or someone you love suffered harm (or killed) in a Baltimore nursing home? This particularly nursing home is a very good facility. But even good nursing homes can make fatal errors. If you think you may have a claim, call our Baltimore-based nursing home lawyers at Miller & Zois today at (800) 553-8082 or get a FREE no obligation case review.
More InformationBeds in the nursing home that have been approved by the federal government to participate in Medicare or Medicaid.
Shows if the nursing home participates in the Medicare, Medicaid, or both.
| Star Rating Summary | ||
| Overall Rating | Above Average | |
| Health Inspection Medicare assigns the star rating based on a nursing home's weighted score from recent health inspections. More stars means fewer health risks | Average | |
| Staffing Medicare assigns the star rating based on the nursing home's staffing hours for Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practice Nurses (LPNs), Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), and Nurse aides. More stars means a better level of staffing per nursing home resident | Much Above Average | |
| RN Staffing | Much Above Average | |
| Quality Measures Medicare assigns the star rating based on data from a select set of clinical data measures. More stars means better quality of care | Average |
| Description | Maria Health Care Center, Inc. | Maryland Average |
| Percent of short-stay residents who self-report moderate to severe pain Lower percentages are better. | 10.7% | 10.4% |
| Percentage of SNF residents with pressure ulcers that are new or worsened Lower percentages are better. | 0.0% | Not Available |
| Percent of short-stay residents assessed and given, appropriately, the seasonal influenza vaccine Higher percentages are better. | 100.0% | 85.3% |
| Percent of short-stay residents assessed and given, appropriately, the pneumococcal vaccine Higher percentages are better. | 100.0% | 84.0% |
| Percentage of short-stay residents who got antipsychotic medication for the first time Lower percentages are better. | 0.0% | 1.7% |
| Description | Maria Health Care Center, Inc. | Maryland Average |
| Percent of long-stay residents experiencing one or more falls with major injury Lower percentages are better. | 8.6% | 2.7% |
| Percent of long-stay residents with a urinary tract infection Lower percentages are better. | 4.3% | 2.5% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who self-report moderate to severe pain Lower percentages are better. | 28.3% | 5.4% |
| Percent of long-stay high-risk residents with pressure ulcers Lower percentages are better. | 3.5% | 8.8% |
| Percent of long-stay low-risk residents who lose control of their bowels or bladder Lower percentages are better. | 77.2% | 62.3% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who have or had a catheter inserted and left in their bladder Lower percentages are better. | 1.2% | 1.7% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who were physically restrained Lower percentages are better. | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Percentage of long-stay residents whose ability to move independently worsened Lower percentages are better. | 13.8% | 22.5% |
| Percent of long-stay residents whose need for help with daily activities has increased Lower percentages are better. | 11.2% | 18.0% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who lose too much weight Lower percentages are better. | 7.8% | 5.8% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who have depressive symptoms Lower percentages are better. | 3.7% | 3.9% |
| Percentage of long-stay residents who received an antianxiety or hypnotic medication Lower percentages are better. | 17.2% | 16.2% |
| Percent of long-stay residents assessed and given, appropriately, the seasonal influenza vaccine Higher percentages are better. | 100.0% | 96.7% |
| Percent of long-stay residents assessed and given, appropriately, the pneumococcal vaccine Higher percentages are better. | 100.0% | 94.1% |
| Percent of long-stay residents who received an antipsychotic medication Lower percentages are better. | 18.1% | 12.4% |
Date of standard health inspection:04/06/2018
Total number of health deficiencies:6
Average number of health deficiencies in Maryland:14.9