Arlington Nursing Home Comes Up Short In First State Inspection

ARLINGTON, MA – Park Avenue Health Center scored 26 out of 28 in the first round of adherence checks by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. However, the facility was labeled as not being in adherence because it missed at least one of the six core competency points.

Twelve nursing homes failed to meet the 20-point threshold for compliance. Park Avenue was one of 119 nursing homes that hit the 20-point threshold but failed in one of the six core standards, meaning they were also found to be in noncompliance. These facilities will receive targeted infection control training and be re-audited by May 29.

The remaining 228 nursing homes scored 20 points or higher and met the six core standards.

The inspections were the first in the COVID-19 Nursing Facility Accountability and Support Program announced by Gov. Charlie Baker on April 27. The audits, which are funded by $130 million the Baker administration allocated to slow the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes, will be conducted every two weeks.

According to the latest figures from the town of Arlington, there have been 106 confirmed cases of the coronavirus across its two senior care facilities, Park Avenue and Sunrise. The latter is an assisted living facility and was not included in the state's audit.

The state didn't release a breakdown of scores for individual nursing homes showing where they failed to comply with the standards laid out in the program's compliance checklist.

Long-term care facilities account for 61 percent coronavirus-related deaths in Massachusetts. Of the states 88,970 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, 18,801 were either patients or workers in long-term care facilities.

Read the complete nursing home inspection report.