Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
In Mid-April, Pine Crest Nursing Home was awarded a 5-star rating in overall quality by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
According to Pine Crest Administrator Lisa Gervais, the elite 5-star rating is the highest possible rating in the quality rating system, and is the first of such for the facility in the 20+ years since the quarterly rating system becoming standardized.
PCNH has previously maintained a consistent 4-star rating since 2016.
Gervais fully credits the PCNH staff for achieving such a milestone.
“We have the dedicated, caring work of our staff to thank for this. It is our job as administrators to lead them to such a goal of a perfect 5-star rating, but they did the leg work. From our house keeping staff and maintenance, to CNA’s, nursing and supervisory staff; it was a hard working effort by all to accomplish this,” she said. “This success is just an example of how much our staff truly care about our residents and providing quality services.”
The rating comes on the heels of CMS inspections involving a variety of criteria including staffing levels, record keeping, quality and safety measures such as falls and re-hospitalizations, as well as results of inspections performed by other agencies; such as the Wisconsin Department of Health Services-Department of Quality Assurance.
“It is just a huge honor to achieve a 5-star rating,” Gervais adds. “It’s been a goal of our facility since I was the Director of Nursing, CMS just doesn’t hand these out, you really have to work to achieve success like this. I can’t express enough how very proud we are of our staff for achieving this milestone.”