Masonic Village at Burlington: From 5 Stars to 1 — The Steepest Fall
A New Jersey nonprofit nursing home that once earned the highest possible CMS rating has crashed to the lowest. How does a 5-star facility become a 1-star?
Masonic Village at Burlington, a 264-bed nonprofit nursing home in Burlington, New Jersey, once carried CMS’s highest distinction: a 5-star overall rating. Today, it sits at 1 star — the steepest possible drop in the federal rating system.
The Decline
With just 111 residents in 264 beds, Masonic Village is operating at 42% occupancy. It’s been flagged as an SFF candidate and an abuse icon appears on its CMS profile. Its decline score of 18 places it among the five most troubled nursing homes nationally.
The fall is remarkable for its context. Masonic Village is not a fly-by-night for-profit operator. It’s a nonprofit, church-affiliated facility — the type that research consistently associates with higher quality care.
A 4-Star Drop Is Exceptionally Rare
In our analysis of 14,710 active nursing homes, only a handful experienced a 4-star rating drop:
- Baptist Village of Oklahoma City (OK) — 5 to 1 stars, 77% occupancy
- Solomons Nursing and Rehab Center (MD) — 5 to 1 stars, but notably still at 99% occupancy
Most facilities that drop do so by 1 or 2 stars. A 4-star collapse signals something systemic — not a bad inspection day, but a fundamental breakdown in operations.
The vicious cycle: Fewer residents → less revenue → fewer staff → worse care → more residents leave → repeat. Breaking this cycle requires intervention before occupancy drops below the point of no return.
A 5-star rating is not a permanent achievement. It’s a snapshot. And as Masonic Village shows, even the best-rated facilities can fall — fast.