Birchwood Terrace Rehab & Healthcare
43 Starr Farm Rd, Burlington, VT 05408 · Chittenden County · 160 certified beds · avg 145 residents/day · certified since Jan 1, 1969
Part of chain: STELLAR HEALTH GROUP (7 facilities, chain avg rating 2.7★)
What health inspectors found (on-site government inspections — the most independent evidence available)
Health inspection rating: ★★★☆☆3/5 · CMS overall rating: 3/5
The health inspection star above is graded on a curve within each state — a set share of each state's facilities gets each star level — so a facility can have few citations and still rate 2–3 stars if others in its state did even better. The overall rating combines that inspection score with staffing and self-reported quality measures.
Most serious findings (actual harm or immediate jeopardy)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, facility-wide · Sep 3, 2024 · F-0880
The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide.
Why it matters: Weak infection control lets illnesses like flu, COVID-19, and drug-resistant infections spread quickly among vulnerable residents.
Severity (L): A life-threatening or extremely dangerous situation existed throughout the facility. The single most serious citation CMS can issue.
Corrected: Oct 2, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
All citations in the current public record (21)
CMS publishes roughly the last three inspection cycles plus recent complaint investigations. Older surveys drop out of the record as new ones are completed.
| Date | Severity | What the facility was cited for |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 20, 2025 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not get its food from approved, safe sources, or did not store, prepare, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. |
| Aug 20, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not treat residents with dignity and respect, or did not honor their rights to make their own decisions and communicate freely. This is one of the most fundamental resident rights. |
| Dec 31, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not protect residents from abuse or neglect. This covers physical, mental, and sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect, by anyone — staff, other residents, or visitors. · from a complaint |
| Sep 3, 2024 | ▲ L · Immediate jeopardy, facility-wide | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not treat residents with dignity and respect, or did not honor their rights to make their own decisions and communicate freely. This is one of the most fundamental resident rights. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not develop or follow a complete care plan for each resident — the written roadmap covering all of a resident's needs, with measurable goals and timelines. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide the help residents need with basic daily activities — like bathing, dressing, eating, and using the bathroom — for residents who cannot do these things on their own. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide activities that meet residents' needs and interests. Nursing homes must offer meaningful activity programs, not just leave residents idle. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide care that took into account residents' past trauma or their cultural backgrounds. Care is supposed to be sensitive to what residents have lived through and where they come from. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not have enough nursing staff each day to meet every resident's needs, or did not have a licensed nurse in charge on each shift. Adequate staffing is one of the strongest predictors of good care. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility's medication error rate was 5 percent or higher — meaning too many doses were given incorrectly, such as the wrong drug, dose, or time. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility provided care that did not meet professional standards of quality — the accepted standards that nurses and other clinicians are expected to follow. |
| Sep 3, 2024 | B · Minimal risk, repeated | The facility did not label drugs according to professional standards or did not store them in locked compartments, with controlled drugs (medications with a high risk of misuse) kept under a separate lock. |
| Jun 24, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not give residents (and their representatives and the ombudsman, a state advocate for residents) proper advance notice before a transfer or discharge, including information about their right to appeal. · from a complaint |
| Jun 14, 2023 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not observe each nurse aide's job performance or provide regular training as required. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not develop a resident's complete plan of care within 7 days of the full assessment, or the plan wasn't prepared, reviewed, and updated by a team of health professionals as required. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide the right treatment and services for residents with dementia or signs of dementia. Dementia care requires specific approaches, training, and patience. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | B · Minimal risk, repeated | The facility did not honor residents' right to make their own choices about their daily lives, such as when to wake up, what to eat, or how to spend their time. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | B · Minimal risk, repeated | The facility did not provide a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment, including safe support for residents' daily living needs. |
Inspection trend by year
Citations from standard inspections decreased between the last two inspection cycles (11 → 2).
| Year | Citations | Serious (G–L) | Worst severity that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6 | 0 | E |
| 2024 | 13 | 1 | L ▲ |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | F |
Counts reflect the current CMS public record (~3 inspection cycles plus complaint investigations); years with no surveys show no row. Inspection frequency varies, so compare severity as well as counts.
Fines and enforcement (last 3 years)
1 fine totaling $127,834.
| Date | Type | Amount / length |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2024 | Fine | $127,834 |
Nurse staffing (from payroll records, adjusted for how much care residents need)
| Measure | This facility | Vermont avg | U.S. avg | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total nurse staffing (hours per resident per day) | 3.96 | 4.34 | 3.95 | bottom 45% in Vermont; top 41% in the U.S. |
| Registered Nurse hours | 0.43 | 0.82 | 0.69 | bottom 3% in Vermont; bottom 27% in the U.S. |
| Weekend total nurse staffing | 3.38 | 3.76 | 3.50 | bottom 36% in Vermont; top 49% in the U.S. |
| Weekend RN hours (not acuity-adjusted) | 0.18 | 0.52 | 0.48 | bottom 3% in Vermont; bottom 9% in the U.S. |
| Total nursing staff turnover (%) | 56.8 | 55.4 | 45.8 | top 42% in Vermont; bottom 22% in the U.S. |
| RN turnover (%) | 41.2 | 39.9 | 42.9 | bottom 48% in Vermont; top 49% in the U.S. |
Hours are per resident per day, case-mix adjusted by CMS so facilities caring for sicker residents can be compared fairly (same basis as the CMS staffing star). "Top X%" means better than most facilities: more staffing hours, or lower turnover. Raw (unadjusted) reported hours: total 4.01, RN 0.43, weekend 3.42. Staffing rating: 2/5.
Self-reported quality measures
Note: these ratings are based on data the facility reports about itself to CMS. They are not independently verified by inspectors, and can look better than inspection findings. Give more weight to the inspection results above.
Quality measures rating: 3/5 · long-stay residents: 2/5 · short-stay residents: 4/5
Who owns this facility
For profit - Individual
| Owner / manager | Type | Role | Stake | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erlichman, Ariel | Individual | 5% or Greater Direct Ownership Interest | 60% | 06/22/2017 |
| Rubin, Alter | Individual | 5% or Greater Direct Ownership Interest | 40% | 06/22/2017 |
| Dimario, Alecia | Individual | W-2 Managing Employee | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/01/2015 |
Questions to ask on your visit
Generated from this facility's actual citation record — bring them to a tour and ask the administrator directly.
- "Who leads your infection prevention program, and how do you make sure staff follow practices like hand hygiene every day?"
- "What did your most recent kitchen inspection find, and can I see how food is stored and prepared?"
- "Can you give me examples of how your staff protect residents' dignity in everyday care, like bathing and dressing?"
- "Tell me about this abuse or neglect citation — what happened, and what specific changes did you make afterward?"
- "What is your falls rate, and what specific steps do you take to prevent falls and supervise residents at risk?"
- "Can you show me an example care plan, and how are families included when it's created and updated?"
- "How many aides are on each shift, and how do you make sure every resident gets timely help with bathing, dressing, and meals?"
- "Can I see this month's activities calendar, and what do you offer residents who can't leave their rooms?"
- "What is your current ratio of nursing staff to residents on day, evening, and weekend shifts?"
- "Can I see the results and plan of correction from your most recent state inspection?"
Nearby facilities (within 20 miles)
| Facility | Distance | City | Overall | Inspection | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elderwood at Burlington | 0.4 mi | Burlington, VT | ★★☆☆☆ | 2/5 | |
| Premier Rehab and Healthcare at Burlington | 3.6 mi | Burlington, VT | ★☆☆☆☆ | 1/5 | SFF |
| Wake Robin-Linden Nursing Home | 11.0 mi | Shelburne, VT | ★★★★☆ | 5/5 | |
| Clinton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center | 14.9 mi | Plattsburgh, NY | ★★☆☆☆ | 3/5 | |
| Plattsburgh Rehabilitation and Nursing Center | 15.1 mi | Plattsburgh, NY | ★★★★☆ | 4/5 | |
| Champlain Valley Physicians Hosp Med Ctr S N F | 16.3 mi | Plattsburgh, NY | ★★★☆☆ | 4/5 | |
| Meadowbrook Healthcare | 16.7 mi | Plattsburgh, NY | ★★☆☆☆ | 2/5 |
Compare this facility with the 3 closest →
All facilities in Burlington →
Facility data as of CMS processing date 2026-08-01. CCN 475003.