Cherokee Specialty Care

Updated May 1, 2022 by Sara Levinsohn

Historical Rating

1011 North Roosevelt,
Cherokee IA 51012

77.9% estimated occupancy ¹

Cherokee Specialty Care is one of only three available nursing homes located in Cherokee, Iowa. We gave this facility an overall grade of B. A score in this range requires respectable marks in most areas. As far as we can see, this nursing home looks like a solid choice for quite a few people. This place's impressive profile was highlighted by its inspection reports, which is addressed in the next section.

Quick Details

Accepts Medicare ¹
Accepts Medicaid ¹
No
Has Resident Council
No Family Council
Non profit - Corporation

Registered Staff Hours

Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2021)

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Facility Inspections

In addition to receiving a great overall score, this facility performed even better in the area of inspections which is associated with the nursing home's recent inspections. We awarded it an A+ for this category, which is one of our best grades. Inspection grades weigh several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher grades in this area usually have few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this place had some minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G through L. This means the government inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Long-term Care Quality

Adding to this nursing home's list of achievements, it also received a top-shelf long-term care grade. We awarded them an elite strong of A- in this category. For long-term care residents, the primary objective is to maintain patients' quality of life and keep them safe. In addition to assessing the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 90.97745 percent of its residents. This is a bit lower than we anticipated but still a decent percentage. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 1.47 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility has fewer hospitalizations than many nursing homes.

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Nurse Quality

Turning to the category of nursing care, this facility didn't perform quite as well in this area as some of the categories discussed above. Nevertheless, a grade of B- in this category is by no means a bad score. The nursing rating includes several factors. The most heavily weighted one is the quantity of hours nurses spent with residents. This nursing home averages just 2.9 hours of nursing care per patient per day, which is well below average. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in some quality-focused measures. We look at the percent of residents who sustained pressure ulcers and major falls. These statistics are decent measures of the quality of nursing care, since better care tends to reduce these problems.

Short-term Care Quality

The next category we looked at was short-term care. We gave this nursing home a grade of D in our short-term care category, leaving this as its worst category. In our short-term care score, we endeavor to create a sound gauge for rehabilitation. In doing so, we assess a nursing home's levels of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this nursing home provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other facilities. Finally, we assessed the percentage of residents who ultimately returned home from this facility. This nursing home didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 44.7 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.

Rating Over Time

Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.

Cherokee Specialty Care Quality Metrics

Minimizes Pressure Ulcers

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 6.08% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers

This is the percent of patients that sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in the same position for too long.

Minimizes Serious Falls

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 3.74% of Patients had Serious Falls

This tells you the percentage of patients who sustained a major fall. Falls leading to major injury are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care . Major falls leading to injury are routinely the result of lower quality nursing care.

Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 2.94% of Patients had UTIs

This figure tells you the percentage of long-term patients who have experienced UTI's. UTI's may be an indication of lower quality nursing care. However, this statistic can be misleading for some nursing homes due to different reporting standards for UTI's.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 16.71% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication

This metric tells you the percent of long-term patients which were given antipsychotic drugs. Excessive reliance on these medications may indicate that a facility is using these medications to subdue residents in situations where such medications are not medically required. However, some facilities need to rely more on these drugs due to an increased number of residents suffering from dementia.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 18.64% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication

This is the percentage of patients given antianxiety drugs. Antianxiety drugs are given to residents experiencing anxiety or depression.

Managing Depression Among Residents

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 4.84% of Patients

This tells you the percentage of patients showing signs of depression. Increased levels of depression may be a sign a less hospitable environment.

Appropriate Vaccine Usage

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 94.37% of Patients

This tells you the percent of patients that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be standard at this point.

Residents Maintain Autonomy

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 16.8% Percentage of Patients

Measures the percentage of long-term stay residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and using the bathroom. Some experts would argue that this is a reasonable measure of a resident's well-being.

Ability to Keep Residents Mobile

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 20.56% Percentage of Residents

This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term stay residents who retained mobility levels. Many argue that the ability to move around is vital to patients physical and mental health.

Hospitalizations

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 1.17 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days

This metric tracks the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care.

Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 20.56 Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized

This datapoint measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term resident care. Avoiding rehospitalizations during rehabilitation is critical to restoring the physical abilities of residents.

Short-term Care: ER Visits

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 11.28 Percentage of Patients

Measures the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per thousand days of short-term patient care.

Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement

In Cherokee Specialty Care, 79.5% Percentage of Resident

This metric measures the percent of short-term care patients who saw functional improvements.

Nearby Hospitals

Cherokee Regional Medical CenterCritical Access Hospitals 0.26 miles away300 Sioux Valley Drive Cherokee Iowa 51012Voluntary non-profit - Private(712) 225-5101
Mental Health InstitutePsychiatric 1.44 miles away1251 North Cedar Loop Cherokee Iowa 51012Government - State(712) 225-2594
Buena Vista Regional Medical CenterCritical Access Hospitals 18.29 miles away1525 West 5th Street Storm Lake Iowa 50588Government - Local(712) 732-4030