Jo Ellen Smith Convalescent Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1986-08-19. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing care (typically up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay). Medicaid covers long-term care for residents who meet financial eligibility requirements. Contact the facility at (504) 361-7923 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Jo Ellen Smith Convalescent Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 4 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (4★), Staffing (2★), and Quality of Resident Care (3★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 70.2/100, placing it #8217 of 14703 facilities nationally and #55 of 266 in Louisiana. Star ratings are a useful starting point, but the composite score and individual sub-ratings give a more complete picture for families comparing facilities.

Each resident at Jo Ellen Smith Convalescent Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 32 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 6 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 1 hour 22 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 3 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 2 hours 57 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 2 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 38.8%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

In the current reporting period, the facility received 1 fine(s) totaling $5,055. 14 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 1 fine(s) totaling $5,055, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 1. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 32.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Jo Ellen Smith Convalescent Center ranks 8217th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 70.2/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within LA, it ranks 55th out of 266 nursing homes. In New Orleans, it ranks 3rd out of 11 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 1st of 2. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #8,758 nationally and RN hours rank #14,135 nationally (#240 in LA). Our composite quality score of 70.2/100 weighs health inspections, quality of resident care, staffing hours, compliance record, and five-year performance trends — giving a more complete picture than CMS star ratings alone, which can place hundreds of facilities in the same 5-star bucket. To browse and compare all nursing homes in New Orleans, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/louisiana/new-orleans/