Lifespace Communities Receive Highest Quality Ratings

Notes of gratitude from residents and families often land in the inboxes of team members at Beacon Hill, a Lifespace community in Lombard, Illinois.

One woman recently wrote to thank the Beacon Hill nurses and aides who looked after her mother during a short-term stay. “Their care and concern was evident at every turn,” Dia Weil wrote, adding her appreciation for Beacon Hill administrators, as well. “This length and type of treatment was new for us, and it would not have happened without this extraordinary care.”

Such attentiveness is among the reasons the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services recently awarded its highest rating – five stars – to Beacon Hill and two other Lifespace campuses, Friendship Village of South Hills in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, and Claridge Court in Prairie Village, Kansas.

Five more communities previously received the five-star rating: Abbey Delray and Harbour’s Edge in Delray Beach, Florida; Friendship Village of Bloomington in Bloomington, Minnesota; The Waterford in Juno Beach, Florida; and Village on the Green in Longwood, Florida. Altogether, two-thirds of Lifespace campuses have received five stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Vice President of Successful Aging and Health Services Sara Hamm recognized the across-the-board efforts of team members as she shared the latest good news.

“This accomplishment is a true interdisciplinary team effort,” Hamm wrote to team members. “This distinction exemplifies our Living Lifespace philosophy of creating communities that celebrate the lives of seniors.”

Russ Firewicz, administrator at Friendship Village of South Hills, also credits the Lifespace team members for the exceptional rating. “Lifespace Communities and Friendship Village of South Hills employ team members who are committed to quality care and who are trained to provide exceptional services in their individual jobs,” he says.

These team members, who excel every day, benefit from Lifespace’s organization-wide standards and expectations.

“Common policies and best practices are shared among the communities to help assure that all team members are providing consistent levels of service,” Firewicz says. “Treating all residents and team members with dignity and respect are common goals among the communities.”

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services uses its rating scale to measure three sources of information in assessing a community’s overall quality. Each source is given a separate rating to create an overall rating.

Health inspections carried out by trained, objective inspectors make up the first source and take into consideration standard and complaint surveys for the last three years.

The second source measures the number of hours of care nursing team members provide on average to each resident each day. Differences in residents’ required levels of care at each community are factored into the rating.

The third source, quality measures, includes information on 11 different physical and clinical measures for residents. The quality measures account for how well communities are caring for their residents’ physical and clinical needs. Communities self-report this source using the three most recent quarters for which data are available.

Beacon Hill Executive Director Blaire Goldstein sees the rating as a benchmark that informs residents and future residents and gives them a sense of confidence about the quality of care they will receive.

“We provide consistent quality and services to our residents,” Goldstein says. “Meeting regulatory requirements is one part of providing excellent service.”

The key, Goldstein says, is to remain focused on residents’ well-being.

“We take care of our residents, and the rest falls into place,” she says.

(In the cover photo: Beacon Hill residents Marguertia and Eugene Jenzen)

 

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