Overall sentiment across the reviews for Lorien Encore is strongly mixed: a substantial portion of reviewers give very high praise for the facility, staff and rehabilitation services, while a significant minority report serious clinical and operational concerns. Positive comments focus on the built environment, rehabilitation outcomes, engaged activities, and many individual caregivers and teams who are described as compassionate, skilled and responsive. Negative comments concentrate on staffing shortages, inconsistent care (especially on weekends or from temporary staff), communication and management problems, and isolated but severe incidents of neglect or safety lapses.
Care quality and clinical services: Most consistently positive feedback centers on rehabilitation (PT/OT/SLP) — reviewers frequently call the therapy team “excellent,” report noticeable functional improvement, and appreciate the on-site therapy rooms and equipment. Many families also report attentive nursing and medication management, timely medical monitoring, and strong end-of-life/hospice care. However, these positives are counterbalanced by multiple reports of serious clinical problems: delayed or improper medication/device handling (including issues with IVs, feeding tubes and oxygen tank refills), missed basic care (bathing, toileting, hydration), wound deterioration and even at least one report of a patient death alleged to be associated with neglect. Several reports describe hospital transfers or ER visits linked to inadequate in-facility monitoring or handling of clinical issues. In short, the facility is capable of delivering strong skilled-nursing and rehab care, but there appears to be variability in execution and some isolated but consequential failures.
Staffing, teamwork and culture: Many reviews single out individual employees and departments (nurses, CNAs, therapists, dining staff and activities staff) as outstanding and compassionate — several staff members are named repeatedly as exemplary. Reviewers commonly describe staff who go “above and beyond,” welcome families, and know residents by name. At the same time, a recurring pattern is understaffing: reviewers cite long waits for call bells, missed assistance with feeding or toileting, night- and weekend-staff shortages, and heavy reliance on temporary agency personnel. This staffing pressure is linked in reviews to lower quality on some shifts, higher turnover, inconsistent training and occasional unprofessional behavior (arguing staff, rudeness, or inattentiveness). Weekday coverage is often perceived as stronger than weekend coverage, which matters for families evaluating short-term rehab versus long-term placement.
Facilities, amenities and activities: The facility itself receives overwhelmingly positive marks for appearance and amenities. Reviewers describe a modern, hotel-like, immaculately maintained campus with bright rooms, pleasant courtyards, movie theater, salon, café and family spaces. Activities programming is regularly highlighted as a strength — reviewers note a wide variety of offerings (bingo, music, crafts, seated exercise, Parkinson’s groups, religious services, social events and specialty exhibits) and praise creative activity staff. These features contribute to a resort-like, socially engaging environment that many families value highly for short-term recovery and for assisted living transitions.
Dining and housekeeping: Dining reviews are polarized. A substantial number of reviewers praise the food quality and presentation, describing meals as delicious, chef-driven and hotel-like. Conversely, an equally significant number complain about slow dining service, trays left in walkways or outside rooms, cold or soggy meals, restrictive or improperly managed diets (including diabetic diet lapses), and small portions. Housekeeping is generally praised, but there are recurring isolated complaints about dirty rooms, bugs/flies, sticky floors, linen shortages and slow cleaning response. These inconsistent experiences suggest variability across units, shifts and time periods.
Management, communication and billing: Experiences with administration and communication are mixed. Many families credit admissions, discharge planners and certain administrators with excellent coordination, clear explanations and helpful problem resolution. Others report dismissive, unresponsive or rude managers and unreturned phone calls. Billing and cost concerns are common: reviewers warn of high self-pay rates, potential unexpected charges, Medicare coverage limits for rehab stays and occasional billing disputes. Several reviewers recommend asking about pricing structure, community fees, and what Medicare will or will not cover before committing.
Safety and serious concerns: While many reviews describe safe, compassionate care, a troubling subset documents serious safety incidents: falls resulting in fractures, wounds that worsened or became necrotic, hospital transfers, urinary tract infections allegedly acquired in-facility, and at least one allegation of death connected with inadequate care. Oxygen delivery issues and delayed refills are mentioned repeatedly and represent a clinical risk. These reports, when combined with accounts of missed basic care and slow response times, indicate that families should specifically verify clinical safety protocols, staffing levels, incident reporting and oversight when evaluating the community.
Patterns and practical recommendations: The reviews suggest Lorien Encore often performs very well for short-term, Medicare-covered rehabilitation stays — many families report rapid functional improvement, high-quality therapy, and positive transitional support to assisted living or home. For long-term placement, reviewers’ experiences are more variable; recurring themes to probe further include weekend staffing levels, reliance on agency staff, nursing call response times, diet and medication management (including oxygen handling), linen and laundry processes, and billing transparency. Prospective residents and families should ask targeted questions about staff-to-resident ratios by shift, how clinical issues and transfers are handled, examples of recent adverse events and corrective actions, weekend therapy availability, and named clinical staff assignments. Visiting unannounced across different days/times and speaking with multiple families on site can help surface variability described in the reviews.
Bottom line: Lorien Encore receives many strong endorsements for its environment, amenities, therapy programs and many individual caregivers — these are compelling positives, especially for rehabilitation stays. However, persistent reports of understaffing, inconsistent care (particularly on weekends and with temporary staff), communication breakdowns, and several serious clinical allegations temper that praise. Families considering this facility should balance the high-quality elements against the reported variability in clinical and day-to-day care, perform focused due diligence on staffing and safety practices, and get clear, written answers about billing and clinical responsibilities before moving forward.
