Hearth Record

Nursing homes in Polk County

Shortlist up to four to read them side by side.

Filter them by what their records say, and open any one to read it: every fact with its source and date.

30 nursing homes in Polk County, Iowa.

From CMS’s monthly release of Oct 28, 2026. With Iowa’s own list of the nursing homes it licenses that Medicare doesn’t certify. The record lists 390 nursing homes in Iowa.

Also listed

DIAL’s Health Facilities database holds 390 licensed nursing homes. 387 of them are in CMS’s files (by Medicare number, name or address) and shown from CMS’s records; 3 are listed here as licensed by Iowa and not Medicare-certified.

30of 30 nursing homesshown with your filters

What the words on these cards mean7
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.
Scope and severity (A to L)
CMS grades each nursing home deficiency with a letter. A to C: no actual harm, with potential for minimal harm. D to F: no actual harm, but potential for more. G to I: actual harm. J to L: immediate jeopardy. Within each band, the letter rises as more residents were affected or could be: one or a few, a pattern, or widespread. Source: CMS, nursing home scope and severity grid (State Operations Manual, chapter 7).
Nurse staffing hours
The hours registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse aides worked, per resident per day, from the payroll records each home sends CMS. Source: CMS, Payroll-Based Journal.
Fines and payment denials
A fine (civil money penalty) is money CMS makes a nursing home pay when it falls short of federal rules. A payment denial means Medicare and Medicaid stop paying for new admissions until the home meets the rules again. Source: CMS; 42 CFR 488.430 and 488.417.
Not published
The source has no such field for this place. It isn’t a zero, and it isn’t a clean record. Source: How this site reads each source.

The list

Order the list

    Source:

    CMS, Provider Information. Released Oct 28, 2026. Updated monthly.

    Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL), Health Facilities Division, Health Facilities database: Entity Search. Checked Nov 5, 2026. Updated weekly.

    Side by side

    The same published facts for each, in the same order, in their sources’ words.

    Every line is a fact its source published, in that source’s own words. On a line whose figures can be ordered, the one that leads is marked; that is not a rating, and no line is weighed against another. “Not published” means that state’s file has no such field, which is not the same as a zero.

    How to read a record

    Four things every record does, shown on an example record made up for this guide.

    An example record, made up for this guide

    An example nursing home

    Made up for this guide: no real place is shown

    Not fully inspected in over two years (CMS flag)

    11 health citations at the latest inspection cycle

    The state average is 14.3.

    Source:

    CMS, State and US Averages and Health Deficiencies. Released Oct 28, 2026. Updated monthly.

    From the homeNone yet. Replies and paid listings aren’t open, and when they open they will sit here, below the record.

    1 of 4

    Every fact names its source.

    Who published it, when, and how often it changes sit beside each fact, with a link to the agency’s own file.

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