Best Nursing Homes in Lowell, MA

Overview of Palm Center

Palm Center is a nursing home ideal for residents who seek to relax and recover. Specializing in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care, the multi-awarded community provides professional and compassionate service for its residents. The nursing home cultivates the holistic needs of its residents in a home-like setting.
The services are multidisciplinary for both skilled nursing and rehabilitation– focusing on post-surgical care, on-site therapy (physical, occupational, speech), strength conditioning, mobility improvement; colostomy care, dementia care, pain management, wound care; and medical professionals are on-call– medical directors, nurse practitioners, and physicians.

Overview of D‘youville Life and Wellness Community

D’Youville Life and Wellness Community proudly approaches nursing care as a person-centered service. It provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere for its residents to maintain comfort in a homey setting. With an emphasis on independent living, memory care, and long-term and short-term care, the home offers an environment where residents continuously grow as individuals in a nurturing environment that maximizes everyone’s quality of life.

D’Youville Place specializes in surgical recovery, skilled nursing, and therapeutic rehabilitation. Other community features include housekeeping, transportation, social events, recreational activities, and specialized programs.

Overview of Careone at Lowell

Careone at Lowell prides itself on achieving a safe and secure community for residents to experience rejuvenation and recovery in a nurturing home. Residents from different living options offer personalized care that allows them to receive the necessary care while promoting an active lifestyle. The results-driven community ensures only the best approach to senior recovery; they have been one of the city’s trusted and affordable nursing homes with independent living, assisted living, and memory care homes.
CareOne specializes in post-hospital rehabilitation, other services include therapy (speech, occupational, physical), blood transfusions, respiratory care, post-stroke rehabilitation, diabetes management, and advanced wound care.

Fairhaven Healthcare Center sits in Lowell’s Pawtucketville neighborhood, a 169-bed nonprofit skilled nursing home founded in 1984 and now led by Michael Takesian. The facility hosts 125 current residents, the majority on Medicaid (59.2%), with meaningful private-pay (38.4%) and scant Medicare (2.4%) populations. Average stays stretch to 172 days, yet occupancy has fallen to 61.4%, nearly a quarter below state averages and ranking 82nd of 92 Massachusetts facilities.

The facility’s 2-star CMS rating lands 37.7% below state performance, driven primarily by quality measure deficits running 39.2% worse than state baselines. Nursing hours average 4 hours 14 minutes daily per resident, marginally below the 4-hour 18-minute state average but the facility’s single below-average metric.

Payroll investment stands at 56.6% of revenue, which is a healthy position within the 54–65% range typical of well-managed operations and with minimal agency dependence at 8.8% contractor hours.

Six inspections across three years (above-average frequency) identified 41 citations and ranked 67th of 89 facilities. Of critical importance: zero critical citations emerged (100% better than state baseline), and only one serious citation (33% better than state norm). Deficiency clusters centered on Quality of Life & Care (41%), Resident Rights (15%), and Pharmacy Services (12%).

The facility’s single federal penalty of $15K issued November 2023 fell 79% below the Massachusetts average, suggesting enforcement action concentrated on lower-severity violations.

Weight loss at 9.1% tracks 75% above state rates. Antipsychotic use reaches 29.9%, 48% worse than state average. Walking ability decline and functional decline both exceed state norms by 18–32%.

Conversely, depressive symptoms remain exceptionally managed at 3.9% (63% better than state), and short-stay antipsychotic new-use hits zero; 100% above state performance. Fall injury rates improved 11% above baseline.

Financial trajectory reversed sharply after a $398K 2022 loss; the facility posted $605K net income in 2023. Yet occupancy collapsed from 73.1% to 61.4%.

Fairhaven Healthcare combines nonprofit governance with strengthened finances but carries persistent quality gaps in nutritional management and functional preservation unsuitable for residents with high dependency needs.

Belvidere Healthcare Center is one of Lowell’s trusted nursing homes. The home consists of professional staff committed to providing seniors with a safe and comfortable environment. With its professional approach, the nursing home aims to change the meaning of skilled nursing and rehabilitation for seniors through the exceptional care delivered by the compassionate staff. Belvidere successfully recreates the importance of recovery and has been more than welcome to have residents relax and recover.
The nursing home’s centers of excellence include short-term rehabilitation, long-term skilled nursing, and respite care. Its nursing includes stroke recovery, IV therapy, pain management, specialized therapy programs, and diabetic care.

Overview of Northwood Rehabilitation & Health Care Center

As a member of the Athena Health Care Systems, Northwood Rehabilitation and Health Care focuses on skilled nursing and short-term care for seniors in Lowell. The nursing home is composed of a professional care staff who brings not only excellence to the recovery of every senior; residents can genuinely feel the high-end quality of care in a nurturing environment.
Expect nothing but quality regarding Northwood service: 24/7 skilled nursing with specialized therapy programs, post-hospital care, hospice care, home health care, assisted living, and memory care services. Comprehensive services include behavioral management, wound care, tracheostomy care, respiratory treatments, etc.

Regalcare at Lowell, a 90-bed nursing home at 30 Princeton Boulevard in Lowell (Middlesex County), Massachusetts, earned a 1-star overall CMS rating. The driving factor is a 1-star health inspection score, placing the facility well below state performance levels. Quality measures run 5.6% below the Massachusetts average.

While reported nursing hours exceed the state average by 33%, the actual staff-to-resident ratio is 1.21:1 and falls 27% short of the state benchmark. This discrepancy reflects an imbalanced staffing model. Critically, certified nursing aide hours, which provide most direct resident assistance, run 22% below the state average of 2 hours 16 minutes per resident per day. CNA shifts average just 6.9 hours, among the shortest in the state.

In March 2025, the facility incurred a $71,000 federal civil money penalty.

Long-stay quality metrics reveal vulnerabilities. Pressure ulcer rates in high-risk residents reach 7.3%, nearly 60% above the state average. Functional decline in activities of daily living affects 24.4% of residents, 31% worse than state norms. Hospital readmission and emergency department utilization both run above state averages, signaling either care management challenges or acuity-driven clinical needs.

Short-stay rehabilitation outcomes perform better than average, with strong discharge self-care outcomes and minimal antipsychotic medication initiation. Urinary tract infection and depression rates are favorable. Occupancy stands at 70.7%, below the Massachusetts average. The facility admits 41% Medicare (short-stay rehab) and 33% Medicaid (long-term), though current resident census is 77% Medicaid.

RegalCare serves a shifting population: historically mixed short-term and long-term, now predominantly long-term Medicaid-supported residents requiring extended skilled care.