Avera @ Home
A hospice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57103
4509 Prince of Peace Place, 1325 S Cliff Ave, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57103. (605) 322-7705.
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The short answer
Record last released by CMS on Oct 23, 2026. We couldn’t read Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ list since Oct 27, 2026: qcor.cms.gov now refuses our reader. This record is as of then.
- 1 deficiency cited in the last three years
- 5of 5 family caregiver rating
- 10of 10 CMS’s Hospice Care Index
Each figure’s source sits beside it, in its section below.
What these words mean3
- Star ratings
- CMS rates some kinds of place from 1 to 5 stars, more stars meaning better on CMS’s own measures for that kind: for a nursing home, its health inspections, staffing and quality measures. A rating is CMS’s summary of those measures; it doesn’t promise good care. Source: CMS, Care Compare and the Five-Star Quality Rating System.
- Inspection (survey)
- A visit by state inspectors, often unannounced, who check a place against the rules it must meet. For nursing homes and other places Medicare pays, CMS calls these visits surveys: a standard survey of a nursing home comes at least every 15 months, and a complaint survey whenever a complaint calls for one. Source: CMS; 42 CFR 488.308.
- Deficiency, citation, violation
- What inspectors write up when a place didn’t meet a rule: the rule, what they saw, and when. CMS calls it a deficiency; states may say citation or violation. It is the inspectors’ finding, not a court’s, and the place is usually asked for a plan to correct it. Source: CMS, statement of deficiencies (Form CMS-2567); each state’s licensing agency.
What did inspectors find?
1 deficiency cited in the last three years
The middle of the 7 hospices serving ZIP code 57103 had 1.
The last inspection on record was on Jul 13, 2026: a recertification inspection by the state.
CMS, QCOR hospice inspection reports. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated quarterly.
CMS, Hospice ZIP Data. Released Aug 26, 2026. Updated quarterly.
When those deficiencies happened
1 deficiency in 1 month of the last 36. Last cited May 2026. Most serious: Standard-level. The last 3 years, to Oct 27, 2026.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Nov | Dec | ||||||||||
| 2024 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2025 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2026 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
Hover or focus a month to read it.
Hearth Record drew this from the dates and levels in the source’s own records.
Each deficiency, as cited
Rule titles as CMS’s inspectors cite them, set in sentence case.
CMS, QCOR hospice inspection reports. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated quarterly.
May 20, 2026: recertification inspection by the state1 deficiency
-
Sanitary environment (42 CFR 418.110(k))
The inspectors’ words, 640 words
“Based on observation, interview, and policy review, the provider failed to ensure that opened or expired patient care supplies were not available and ready for patient use in one of one central supply room.Findings include: 1. Observation on 5/20/26 at 10:50 a.m. inside the central supply room revealed there were multiple shelving units on which individual plastic storage bins sat. Those bins held various types of medical supplies for patients’ use. Inside one bin on the top shelf of cart F, there were single-use plastic medication syringes inside sealed plastic bags. There were also loose, unpackaged syringes that lay beneath, among, and on top of those sealed bags. Inside another bin, there were individually packaged adult-sized tracheostomy masks (a medical device that fits over a tracheostomy site). One package was torn open, exposing that mask. Inside a third bin, there were individually packaged “Oxymasks” (oxygen masks) with attached tubing. One package was torn open, exposing the mask and tubing. Inside one of the storage bins on the second shelf of cart F, there were more individually packaged oxygen masks. One package was torn open, exposing the mask. Inside another bin, there were individually packaged one-way valves with filters (a piece of medical equipment used with a rescue breathing mask). One package was torn open, exposing the valve. Inside a third bin, there were individually packaged “Air Entrainment Masks” (a type of oxygen therapy mask). One package was torn open, exposing the mask. On the shelving unit between cart A and cart E, there were six canisters of bleach wipes. The expiration date on one canister was December 2025. Two other canisters had expiration dates of March 2026.2. Observation and interview on 5/20/26 at 11:30 a.m. with care assistant (CA) D at the south nurses’ station revealed there was a canister of bleach wipes on the counter of that nurses’ station. The expiration date on the bleach wipe canister was August 2025. CA D used the bleach wipes to disinfect items such as patients’ shower chairs and wheelchairs. She did not know that the bleach wipes she was using were expired. She acknowledged that the expired canister should have been discarded.3. Interview on 5/20/26 at 1:40 p.m. with registered nurse (RN) F regarding management of the patients’ medical supplies in the central supply room revealed that support specialists B and G were responsible for maintaining the central supply room which included discarding damaged or expired medical supplies. RN F stated that the individually packaged patient care supplies, like oxygen masks, were single-use items. If those packaged supplies were opened and not used, they were expected to be discarded. 4. Interview on 5/20/26 at 1:45 p.m. with support specialist B revealed that she and support specialist G ordered and stocked the patient care supplies in the central supply room. It was the responsibility of “anybody really [who used the central supply room]” to ensure that expired or damaged patient care supplies were removed and discarded from that room. She stated, “We keep on top of that really well.”5. Observation and interview on 5/20/26 at 4:35 p.m. with manager A in the central supply room revealed she acknowledged the above findings. She stated that opened, unused patient supplies were not free from contaminants and should be removed and discarded from the central supply room. It was the responsibility of the staff person who opened that unused package to discard it. It was the responsibility of every staff person who used the central supply room to ensure that expired patient care supplies were discarded and not available for patient use.6. A Central Supply Room Storage policy (including the provider’s procedure for removing expired and damaged patient medical supplies) was requested from manager A on 5/20/26 at 4:10 p.m. On 5/25/26 at 10:50 a.m., manager A indicated there was no Central Supply Room Storage policy.”
All 3 inspections in the last three years
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 13, 2026 | Recertification inspection by the state | No deficiencies cited |
| May 20, 2026 | Recertification inspection by the state | 1 deficiency cited |
| May 20, 2026 | Recertification inspection by the state | No deficiencies cited |
Is it certified?
- Medicare-certified hospice since Dec 29, 1988.
- Ownership: other.
- No For hospices, home health agencies, hospitals and dialysis facilities, CMS writes deficiencies at two levels. Standard is the usual one; condition-level is the more serious, when a problem is serious enough that the provider doesn’t meet a whole condition of taking part in Medicare. Source: CMS, State Operations Manual. deficiency or CMS’s most serious finding: the place’s failure to meet a rule caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury, harm, impairment or death to someone in its care. Source: CMS; 42 CFR 489.3. on record in the last three years.
CMS, Hospice General Information. Released Aug 26, 2026. Updated quarterly.
CMS, QCOR hospice inspection reports. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated quarterly.
Has anything been proven against it?
- CMS doesn’t publish fines or other penalties for hospices, so none are shown.
- 0 deficiencies cited in the last three years came from inspections that included a complaint investigation.
CMS, QCOR hospice inspection reports. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated quarterly.
Who does the caring?
- From Medicare claims (Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2024): 22.3 nurse care minutes per routine home care day, 14.3% of skilled nursing minutes at weekends and a visit near death for 99.3% of patients who died.
- Where its patients were cared for (Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024): 29% at home, 20% in assisted living, 43% in a nursing facility, 2% in an inpatient hospice, 7% elsewhere.
CMS, Hospice Provider Data. Released Aug 26, 2026. Updated quarterly.
| Measure | This provider |
|---|---|
| Nurse care minutes per routine home care day | 22.3 min |
| Skilled nursing minutes at weekends | 14.3% |
| Visits near death | 99.3% of patients who died |
Who owns it?
- Avera Health runs it.
- 17 owners or officers are people: Nathan Brand (corporate officer, 0%); Curtis John Hohman (corporate director); Catherine P Kellogg (managing employee (on the payroll)); Nanci J Vanpeursem (corporate director); Chad R Thury (corporate director); Debra Ann Kolecka (corporate director); Debra Ann Streier (corporate director); Timothy Dougherty (corporate director); Sandra Diane Dieleman (corporate officer); Sandra Diane Dieleman (corporate director); Gerald Beninga (corporate director); Matthew Gerhardt Winkelbauer (corporate director); Douglas R Ekeren (corporate director); Doris M Derynck (corporate director); Tom J Snyder (corporate director); Karen Gallagher (corporate director); Jill Cragoe (managing employee (on the payroll)).
- No private-equity firm among the owners CMS lists.
- No real-estate investment trust among the owners CMS lists.
CMS, Hospice All Owners and Hospice Enrollments. Released Sep 29, 2026. Updated quarterly.
| Organisation | Role | Share | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avera Health | Runs it (operational or managerial control) | 100% | Jul 1, 2013 |
What do families say?
- Family caregivers rate it 5 of 5 in CMS’s survey (Oct 1, 2023 to Sep 30, 2025): 88% rated it 9 or 10 out of 10, and 92% would definitely recommend it.
- CMS’s Hospice Care Index: 10 of 10 (Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2024).
- 99.63% of patients were assessed on all seven of CMS’s measures at the start of care (Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025); 91.1% had visits from a nurse or social worker on at least 2 of their last 3 days (Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2024).
CMS, CAHPS Hospice Survey and Hospice Provider Data. Released Aug 26, 2026. Updated quarterly.
| Measure | Rating |
|---|---|
| Family caregiver survey ratingCMS star rating from its survey of patients’ family caregivers, 1 to 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Hospice Care IndexCMS’s Hospice Care Index, 0 to 10 (higher is better): a point for each of ten measures from Medicare claims on which the hospice meets CMS’s threshold | 10 of 10 |
How does it compare nearby?
- Of the 7 hospices CMS’s data show serving patients in ZIP code 57103, where this hospice’s office is, the middle number of deficiencies cited in the last three years was 1; this one had 1.
CMS, Hospice ZIP Data. Released Aug 26, 2026. Updated quarterly.
CMS, QCOR hospice inspection reports. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated quarterly.
| Place | Deficiencies, 3 years |
|---|---|
| Avera @ Home This hospice | 1 |
| Sanford Hospice | 1 |
| Aseracare Hospice | 4 |
| St Croix Hospice | 2 |
| Prairie Lakes Hospice | 1 |
| Avera @ Home | 0 |
| Avera @ Home | 0 |
What the record doesn’t say
- CMS doesn’t publish fines or other penalties for hospices, so none are shown.
- Only complaints that led to a citation appear; complaints that didn’t aren’t published.
- CMS ended its Special Focus Program for hospices with serious problems on Feb 14, 2025, so no hospice is marked as one.
- Hospice quality measures have a gap from October 2025: CMS replaced its patient assessment then, and public results from the new one (HOPE) are expected around November 2027.
Sources
-
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospice General Information (yc9t-dgbk).
Released Aug 26, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospice Provider Data (252m-zfp9).
Released Aug 26, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CAHPS Hospice Survey (gxki-hrr8).
Released Aug 26, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, QCOR hospice inspection reports (Hospice Survey Reports - Oct 2021 through Sep 2026.xlsx).
Released Oct 23, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospice All Owners (e983965e-1603-4cb8-82b5-c40090e380d1).
Released Sep 29, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospice Enrollments (25704213-e833-4b8b-9dbc-58dd17149209).
Released Sep 29, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospice ZIP Data (95rg-2usp).
Released Aug 26, 2026 and checked Oct 27, 2026. Updated quarterly. Public domain (U.S. Government work).
If you believe something here is wrong, a correction starts with the agency whose record this copies: CMS. CMS’s own record is on Care Compare. If Hearth Record copied something wrongly, it will fix it and log the correction publicly, with its date: how corrections work.
This copy of the record was made on Oct 27, 2026.
From the hospice
The public record above comes first. Anything the hospice adds will appear here, below it, and say who wrote it.
Replies
None. Replies aren’t open yet. When they open, the hospice will be able to answer any finding for free, and the reply will show beside that finding, unedited and dated.
Paid listing
None. Paid listings aren’t open yet. When they open, anything paid for will say “Paid by the hospice”, and paying will never change a finding, a rating or the order of results.