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This report identifies the 10 worst rated nursing homes in Philadelphia County and in Pittsburgh / Allegheny County, using publicly available federal and state data. Unlike generic inspection summaries, this report focuses on concrete patient outcomes: bed sore rates, hospitalization rates, fall injuries, and abuse findings that directly affect residents’ lives.
PA State Averages (benchmarks for comparison):
A note on death data: CMS does not publish facility-level death counts in any public dataset. When a nursing home resident is transferred to a hospital and dies there, the death is attributed to the hospital, not the nursing home. The closest available proxies are hospitalization and rehospitalization rates, which indicate facilities that cannot keep residents stable. For statewide context: a Spotlight PA investigation found that Pennsylvania elderly deaths resulting from abuse or neglect rose from 120 in 2017 to nearly 1,400 in 2022 (source: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/02/philadelphia-abuse-neglect-seniors-deaths-pennsylvania-action-josh-shapiro/).
Primary sources:
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Address: 9209 Ridge Pike White Marsh, PA 19128
Beds: 244
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 2/5
Staffing Rating: 3/5
The bottom line: Meadowview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center shows a troubling pattern of repeated care failures, abuse-related citations, and serious regulatory violations. With 42 documented deficiencies, repeated failures in care planning, infection control, nutrition, and resident safety point to systemic operational problems rather than isolated mistakes. These types of failures can place vulnerable residents at increased risk for hospitalization, preventable decline, infections, and serious harm.
MSW Insight: MSW’s attorneys have represented multiple families in lawsuits against Meadowview, and have prosecuted more than a dozen cases against the facility’s ownership. Families of residents suffering from pressure sores, malnutrition, infections and neglect have found their advocate in MSW’s team.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395296
Address: 1526 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146
Beds: 150
Overall Rating: 2/5 |
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5 |
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Meadowview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center shows a troubling pattern of repeated care failures, abuse-related citations, and serious regulatory violations. With 42 documented deficiencies, repeated failures in care planning, infection control, nutrition, and resident safety point to systemic operational problems rather than isolated mistakes. These types of failures can place vulnerable residents at increased risk for hospitalization, preventable decline, infections, and serious harm.
MSW Insight: As the community is aware, this facility has been through more name changes and ownership changes in the past 15 years than anyone can count. What has not changed, is that this is a troubled facility. MSW’s attorneys have represented families in cases against every recent ownership group that has taken over this facility.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395296
Address: 7800 Bustleton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19152
Beds: 240
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Roosevelt has the worst hospitalization rate of any facility on this list: 3.27 per 1,000 resident days, nearly double the state average. When combined with a 34.3% rehospitalization rate and a 4.18% major fall injury rate (50% above average), it means residents are routinely being sent to the hospital because the facility cannot adequately care for them.
MSW Insight: MSW’s team has represented multiple families in cases against Roosevelt, and nearly two dozen families in cases against Roosevelt’s owners. Across the ownership’s nursing home empire are facilities that have struggled with neglecting residents and not providing the care they need, leading to disastrous outcomes.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395537
Address: 600 East Cathedral Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128
Beds: 82
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 2/5
Staffing Rating: 4/5
The bottom line: Cathedral Village has the worst fall-with-major-injury rate in Philadelphia, more than double the state average. Combined with $219K in fines, 5 abuse citations, and 2 K-severity findings (indicating a pattern of harm, not isolated incidents), this is a facility where residents are physically unsafe.
MSW Insight: Despite its pleasant-sounding name, this facility has earned Medicare’s dubious “red hand” for abuse. This is not a normal or acceptable designation, but rather, is evidence that this facility is not operating in the best interests of its residents.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395467
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Address: 4001 Ford Road, Philadelphia, PA 19131
Beds: 180
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 2/5
Staffing Rating: 3/5
The bottom line: With a 38% rehospitalization rate, Monumental/Woodside Park returns more patients to the hospital than any other Philadelphia nursing home. When a facility cannot keep patients stable enough to avoid rehospitalization, it signals fundamental care failures.
MSW Insight: MSW’s team has represented multiple residents of this facility. Despite name changes over the years, the quality of care at “Monumental” (previously “Bala”) has not changed. It has earned Medicare’s “red hand” for abuse, and sits at the bottom of the rankings for regulatory compliance and overall quality. Even still, in 2025 alone, the facility’s owners and managers extracted nearly $1 million dollars in “management” and “consulting” fees, rather than putting those funds to use to increase staffing and quality of care.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-396076
Address: One Penn Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19144
Beds: 174 |
Overall Rating: 3/5 |
Health Inspection Rating: 2/5 |
Staffing Rating: 4/5
The bottom line: Willow Terrace has a long history of regulatory deficiencies, it carries the highest deficiency count among the Philadelphia candidates reviewed, with recent complaint findings across resident rights, behavioral health, administration, and nutrition/hydration-related care.
MSW Insight: Every single attorney at MSW has litigated cases against Willow Terrace, as well as against its owners. While the facility’s ownership has changed over the years, today it operates with Medicare’s “red hand” for abuse, and has a 1-star rating (the worst possible score) for regulatory compliance. When Willow Terrace residents suffer pressure sores, infections or neglect, MSW’s attorneys are experienced in obtaining justice for them.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-396129
Address: 184 Bethlehem Pike, Philadelphia, PA 19118
Beds: 176
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 1/5
The bottom line: Fairview has the most deficiency citations (101) and the worst staffing levels in Philadelphia: just 0.29 RN hours per resident per day, with nearly 73% of registered nurses leaving within a year. When there are not enough nurses and the ones who are there keep quitting, patients develop bed sores, get infections, and end up in the hospital.
MSW Insight: This is another facility that has changed hands multiple times over the years, but the quality of care remains troubling. MSW’s attorneys have multiple present and past clients in cases involving Fairview, and even more against Fairview’s wider ownership group. Fairview’s residents deserve better than 1-star care.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395782
Address: 4401 Haverford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Beds: 176
Overall Rating: 3/5
Health Inspection Rating: 2/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Despite a slightly better overall rating, West Park has the second-highest hospitalization rate (3.18/1000 days, nearly double average) and the worst staff turnover in Philadelphia: 79.5% of nursing staff leaves annually. That level of turnover means residents are constantly cared for by new staff who do not know their medical histories, medications, or needs.
MSW Insight: MSW has litigated cases against West Park’s ownership group in multiple states. With attorneys licensed in nine states, MSW has the reach to represent nursing home residents who are harmed by facilities like West Park not just in Pennsylvania, but throughout the region.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395686
Address: 3300 Henry Avenue, 7Th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19129
Beds: 66
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 1/5
The bottom line: Aristacare receives the worst possible ratings (1-star across the board) with 79 deficiency citations, restraint violations, and 81% RN turnover. The small facility size means CMS suppresses some quality data, but the enforcement record alone paints a clear picture of danger.
MSW Insight: Aristacare’s owners have a history of operating some of the lowest performing facilities in Pennsylvania, and MSW’s attorneys have represented numerous residents and their families from those facilities. Residents suffering from pressure sores, infections and neglect have retained MSW because Pennsylvania’s elders deserve better than Aristacare’s 1-star care.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-396143
Address: 9501 State Road, Philadelphia, PA 19114
Beds: 120 |
Overall Rating: 3/5 |
Health Inspection Rating: 3/5 |
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: River’s Edge has been penalized by CMS more times (5) than any other Philadelphia nursing home. Repeated penalties indicate that prior enforcement actions did not resolve the underlying problems.
MSW Insight: MSW’s attorneys represent multiple families against the River’s Edge facility’s owners. Over the past several years, the facility has been cited for residents suffering pressure sores, urinary tract infections, and not receiving the daily care they require. Poorly run facilities lead to harmful outcomes for the residents, and MSW’s team has the experience to seek justice for those injuries.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395843
| Rank | Facility | Bed Sores | Falls (Major Injury) |
Rehospitalized | Hosp. per 1,000 Days |
Fines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PA State Average |
5.62% | 2.79% | 24.77% | 1.80 | ||
| 1 | Meadowview | Data suppressed | Data suppressed | 26.06% | 0.87 | $79,414 |
| 2 | Graduate Post Acute | 16.35% (3x avg) |
0.00% | 27.7% | 1.82 | $17,940 |
| 3 | Roosevelt Rehab | 6.18% | 4.18% (1.5x avg) |
34.3% | 3.27 (1.8x avg) |
$19,607 |
| 4 | Cathedral Village | 3.38% | 5.77% (2x avg) |
21.2% | 1.09 | $219,489 |
| 5 | Monumental/Woodside | Data suppressed | Data suppressed | 38.0% (1.5x avg) |
1.97 | $39,318 |
| 6 | Willow Terrace | Data suppressed | Data suppressed | 21-23% | 0.9-1.2 | $9,113 |
| 7 | Fairview Rehab | 4.60% | No data | 25.0% | 2.38 (1.3x avg) |
$47,181 |
| 8 | West Park | 5.54% | 2.50% | 17.9% | 3.18 (1.8x avg) |
$35,162 |
| 9 | Aristacare East Falls | Data suppressed | Data suppressed | No data | No data | $57,568 |
| 10 | River’s Edge | 5.33% | No data | 26.5% | 1.10 | $29,073 |
Bold values are above the PA state average.
“Data suppressed” means CMS withheld the metric due to small sample size or data quality thresholds.
Graduate Post Acute’s 16.35% bed sore rate is nearly 3 times the state average. Pressure ulcers are the single most preventable condition in nursing homes and a leading cause of sepsis and death in elderly residents. They result from failure to reposition immobile patients, inadequate nutrition, and insufficient staffing. A facility with a bed sore rate this high has a fundamental care delivery failure.
Three facilities have rehospitalization rates above 34%: Monumental (38.0%), Care Pavilion (37.5%), and Roosevelt (34.3%). When more than 1 in 3 patients admitted to a nursing home end up back in the hospital, the facility is not providing the level of care these patients require. Rehospitalization is also enormously costly to Medicare, costing taxpayers billions annually.
Cathedral Village’s 5.77% major fall injury rate is more than double the state average. Roosevelt’s 4.18% rate is 50% above average. Major fall injuries in elderly nursing home residents frequently result in hip fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and death. These falls are preventable with adequate staffing, fall risk assessments, and environmental safeguards.
West Park (79.5%), Aristacare (81% RN turnover), Fairview (72.7% RN turnover), and Graduate Post Acute (68% RN turnover) all have extreme staff departure rates. Research consistently shows that high nursing staff turnover directly correlates with worse patient outcomes: more bed sores, more falls, more hospitalizations, and more deaths. When nurses leave faster than they can be replaced, there is no continuity of care.
Six facilities have multiple CMS penalty actions (fines or payment denials), indicating that initial enforcement did not resolve safety problems. Care Pavilion has had 2 payment denials (CMS stopped paying the facility entirely). River’s Edge has been penalized 5 separate times. These patterns show facilities that absorb fines as a cost of doing business rather than fixing the conditions that endanger residents.
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Mr. Stone earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Rutgers–Camden School of Law, and clerked for the Honorable Eduardo C. Robreno in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He later represented victims of elder abuse and neglect at a national plaintiff’s firm before co-founding Murray, Stone & Wilson, PLLC. In 2018, he secured what is believed to be the highest sexual abuse nursing home verdict in Pennsylvania history and was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star.
Contact us today to speak with an attorney who fights for victims of abuse and neglect.
Address: 715 Freeport Road, Cheswick, PA 15024
Beds: 130
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Harmar Village is the most dangerous nursing home in Pittsburgh by enforcement record: 124 deficiency citations, 14 abuse citations, 8 penalty actions, and SFF Candidate status. The 8.12% bed sore rate is 1.4x the state average. With 73.9% of registered nurses leaving within a year and 3 findings of actual harm to residents, this facility has a sustained pattern of failure that fines and penalties have not corrected.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-396048
Address: 5701 Phillips Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Beds: 143
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Heritage Care Center has the worst bed sore rate of any Pittsburgh facility: nearly 1 in 10 long-stay residents has a pressure ulcer, a condition that is entirely preventable with adequate care. Combined with SFF Candidate designation, 111 deficiency citations, 8 abuse findings, and 68.8% staff turnover, this is a facility where CMS itself has flagged a sustained pattern of serious quality problems.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395732
Address: 4142 Monroeville Boulevard, Monroeville, PA 15146
Beds: 120
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 1/5
The bottom line: The worst possible ratings across the board (1-star overall, health, and staffing). An 8.40% bed sore rate and 31.6% rehospitalization rate paint a picture of a facility where residents routinely deteriorate and end up back in emergency care.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395670
Address: 2170 Rhine Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Beds: 100
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 3/5
The bottom line: Spring Hill received the rarest and most severe citation in the CMS enforcement system: an L-severity finding, meaning widespread Immediate Jeopardy. This is the worst possible outcome of a nursing home inspection. Combined with SFF Candidate status, 104 deficiency citations, and a 7.31% bed sore rate, Spring Hill is a facility in active crisis as of early 2026.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395666
This is not our first nursing home case; we’ve handled thousands of them, and we know the industry.
Address: 2025 Wightman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Beds: 178
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 1/5
The bottom line: Two Immediate Jeopardy abuse findings in a single inspection (May 2024) means inspectors found that the facility’s failure to protect residents from abuse and failure to report abuse created conditions likely to cause serious injury or death. SFF Candidate status, 108 citations, and staffing at only 3.02 hours per resident per day (well below the 4.1-hour federal recommendation) compound the danger.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395028
Address: 909 West Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15221
Beds: 126
Overall Rating: 2/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 3/5
The bottom line: The highest fines ($402K) and second-most abuse citations (11) of any Pittsburgh facility, plus SFF Candidate status. Burgh Care has been fined over $400K and penalized 5 times, yet remains on the SFF Candidate list: the fines are not working.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395883
Formerly known as Corner View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Address: 6655 Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Beds: 187
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 3/5
The bottom line: The worst rehospitalization rate on this list: 34.4% of short-stay patients return to the hospital. An Immediate Jeopardy abuse finding in 2025, SFF Candidate status, and 78.9% RN turnover. When a facility cannot retain nurses and cannot keep patients stable, it fails at its fundamental purpose.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395423
Address: 1717 Skyline Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15227
Beds: 200
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Rose Meadows Health & Rehab Center has a very low health inspection rating and below-average staffing levels, which are both known contributors to higher rates of pressure injuries, falls, and avoidable hospital transfers even when those outcomes are not fully reported in the CMS dataset. 41 total deficiencies, 2 infection-related deficiencies, above-state-average turnover, below-state-average nurse hours, and recent G-level complaint findings involving actual harm.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395745
Address: 1848 Greentree Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15220
Beds: 180
Overall Rating: 1/5
Health Inspection Rating: 1/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: Above-average bed sore and fall rates, combined with a hospitalization rate exceeding the state average. Over 63% of nursing staff leaves within a year. The 1-star overall and health inspection ratings reflect a facility with pervasive quality problems.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-395743
Address: 505 Weyman Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
Beds: 166
Overall Rating: 3/5
Health Inspection Rating: 3/5
Staffing Rating: 2/5
The bottom line: While carrying a higher overall rating than others on this list, Whitehall Borough has abuse citations spanning physical restraints, seclusion, and failure to protect residents from abuse. The 26.9% rehospitalization rate exceeds the state average, and 57.6% staff turnover compromises continuity of care.
Source: https://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/homes/h-396066
| Rank | Facility | Bed Sores | Falls (Major Injury) |
Rehospitalized | Hosp. per 1,000 Days |
Fines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PA State Average |
5.62% | 2.79% | 24.77% | 1.80 | ||
| 1 | Harmar Village | 8.12% (1.4x avg) |
3.91% (1.4x avg) |
26.2% | No data | $71,840 |
| 2 | Heritage Care Center | 9.79% (1.7x avg) |
3.09% | 23.3% | 1.70 | $0 |
| 3 | Wecare Monroeville | 8.40% (1.5x avg) |
0.32% | 31.6% (1.3x avg) |
1.79 | $20,360 |
| 4 | Spring Hill | 7.31% (1.3x avg) |
2.19% | No data | No data | $19,366 |
| 5 | Squirrel Hill Wellness | 6.29% | 2.05% | No data | No data | $184,782 |
| 6 | Burgh Care Center | 6.49% | 2.62% | No data | No data | $402,762 |
| 7 | Champion City | 4.28% | 2.77% | 34.4% (1.4x avg) |
1.85 | $137,886 |
| 8 | Rose Meadows | Data suppressed | Data suppressed | 21.77% | 0.76 | $284,000 |
| 9 | Carnegie Park | 7.03% (1.25x avg) |
3.00% | 22.7% | 1.94 | $19,734 |
| 10 | Whitehall Borough | 3.63% | 2.56% | 26.9% | No data | $0 |
Bold values are above the PA state average.
9 of the 10 Pittsburgh facilities have bed sore rates above the PA state average. Heritage Care Center leads at 9.79% (nearly 1 in 10 residents), followed by Wecare Monroeville at 8.40% and Harmar Village at 8.12%. This is not an isolated failure at one facility: it is a systemic regional problem indicating widespread understaffing and inadequate care across Allegheny County.
Spring Hill received an L-severity citation in January 2026. L is the single worst outcome in the CMS enforcement system: widespread harm at the Immediate Jeopardy level, meaning the facility’s failure to develop abuse prevention policies created conditions of immediate danger affecting many residents. Only a handful of citations at this level are issued nationwide each year.
The top 4 facilities by fines total over $970,000: Burgh Care ($402K), Southwestern Veterans ($245K), Squirrel Hill ($184K), and Champion City ($137K). All four either remain SFF Candidates or carry 1-star health inspection ratings. The fines are being absorbed as a cost of doing business, not driving improvement.
Six of the 10 facilities (Harmar Village, Heritage Care, Spring Hill, Squirrel Hill, Burgh Care, Champion City) are CMS Special Focus Facility Candidates. This designation means the federal government has identified them as having a sustained pattern of serious quality problems across multiple inspections. Only about 1% of all U.S. nursing homes receive this designation. Pittsburgh has a disproportionate concentration of the worst nursing homes in the country.
Champion City’s 34.4% rehospitalization rate means over 1 in 3 short-stay patients end up back in the hospital. Wecare Monroeville at 31.6% and Whitehall Borough at 26.9% also exceed the state average.
All 10 facilities have abuse-related citations. Harmar Village leads with 14, followed by Burgh Care (11), Squirrel Hill (10), and Heritage Care (8). The citations span F600 (failure to protect from abuse), F604 (improper physical restraints), F607 (failure to develop abuse prevention policies), F609 (failure to report abuse), and F610 (failure to respond to abuse allegations).
All data in this report is drawn from publicly available federal and state records:
Data current as of March 2026.
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Erica C. Wilson earned her B.A. from Boston College, where she was inducted into the Order of the Cross and Crown for academic excellence, leadership, and service. She received her J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was a member of the Temple Law Review and earned “Outstanding Oral Advocacy” honors in three trial advocacy seminars. She later served as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia before representing victims of nursing home abuse and neglect at a national plaintiff’s firm and co-founding Murray Stone & Wilson, PLLC. Erica focuses her practice on nursing home abuse, wrongful death, and catastrophic injury litigation, including complex cases involving neglect, invasion of privacy, and sexual abuse.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by our team of attorneys, who have more than 50 years of combined legal experience in helping victims of nursing home abuse.
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