Bay Bluffs – Emmet County Medical Care Facility is highly regarded both locally and regionally. Now, Bay Bluffs has garnered recognition at the national level with its inclusion on two influential criteria-based listings: US News & World Report’s and Newsweek’s Best Nursing Homes of 2024. Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ranks Bay Bluffs among the top 10% of nursing homes nationally. “This recognition is both an honor and a validation,” says Bay Bluffs administrator Lisa Ashley. “Positioning Bay Bluffs to exceed standards in patient satisfaction, safety protocols, and staffing opportunities is business as usual for us, but to earn national recognition is proof that our care model really works.”
“It is the incredible Bay Bluffs care team that lead to these impressive rankings through their commitment to quality care and resident safety,” shares Bay Bluffs Director of Nursing Sonja Bosley, RN, NHA. “These awards are a result of our staff working hard every single day to support, care for and love our residents…I am incredibly proud of our entire Bay Buffs team.”
“These awards are a result of our staff working hard every single day to support, care for and love our residents…I am incredibly proud of our entire Bay Buffs team.”
Bay Bluffs Director of Nursing Sonja Bosley, RN, NHA
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Five-Star Quality Ranking System
According to cms.gov, “CMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily and to help identify areas about which you may want to ask questions. The Nursing Home Care Compare web site features a quality rating system that gives each nursing home a rating of between 1 and 5 stars. Nursing homes with 5 stars are considered to have much above average quality and nursing homes with 1 star are considered to have quality much below average.” Nursing homes within the top 10% “set the benchmark for all others, and we’re among this highly ranked group,” Ashley shares.
It should be noted that Bay Bluffs already meets and exceeds staffing requirements set forth by the Biden administration, as of September 2023.
CMS data also included accreditation and national patient safety goals from the Joint Commission, a US-based non-profit, established in 1951, tasked with the accreditation of more than 22,000 health care organizations and programs; national surveys from medical professionals; and a COVID-19 score measuring staff response and protocol standards during the pandemic. “Our care team is directly responsible for our successes during the pandemic,” Bosley adds. (Bay Bluffs maintained exceptionally low COVID infection rates over 36 months and used the experience to begin a collaborative relationship with Northern Central Michigan College in order to fill the staffing gap created by the pandemic. Bay Bluffs educational component is the first in the region and among the very first in the nation.)
US News & World Report Top Michigan Nursing Homes
Newsweek’s Best Nursing Homes of 2024 included Bay Bluffs as one of 29 Michigan facilities to make the list, using the same information from the Joint Commission as well as information compiled by Statista, a global data platform founded in Germany in 2007.
Newsweek Best Nursing Homes of 2024
“These rankings include data which represents both patients and healthcare professionals, so they are a true window on overall quality of care,” Ashley adds. “Emmet County should know that Bay Bluffs is a labor of love for everyone who chooses this career in caring, and we are pleased to serve.”
“The Bay Bluffs care team is why community members choose Bay Bluffs over others for their long-term and short-term rehabilitative care,” Ashley expresses.
“In this season of gratitude, I want to be sure that our team members know how much their contribution means to our residents and to our community at large — they earned this recognition and should be truly proud!”