Nursing home
Avoca Specialty Care
610 East York Street, Avoca, IA 51521 · Map
For profit - Corporation · Part of Care Initiatives (43 facilities) · 46 certified beds
Avoca Specialty Care is a Medicare-certified nursing home in Avoca, Iowa. CMS rates it 1 out of 5 stars overall (3/5 for staffing, 1/5 for health inspections). Nurse staffing is 3.34 hours per resident per day, below the Iowa average of 3.83. Its most recent inspection on Jan 30, 2025 cited 14 deficiencies.
CMS quality ratings
Ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), updated monthly. 5 stars is the highest quality.
How Avoca Specialty Care compares
This facility vs. the Iowa and national averages, from CMS data. For staffing, higher is generally better; for turnover and deficiencies, lower is better.
| Metric | This facility | Iowa avg | National avg | Compared with the state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total nurse staffing (hrs/resident/day) | 3.34 | 3.83 | 3.89 | below avg |
| RN staffing (hrs/resident/day) | 0.74 | 0.73 | 0.68 | above avg |
| Aide staffing (hrs/resident/day) | 2.30 | 2.53 | 2.34 | below avg |
| Nursing staff turnover | 62.5% | 43.9% | 46.4% | above avg |
| Deficiencies cited, last inspection | 14.0 | 6.2 | 9.5 | above avg |
Staffing
Hours per resident per day as reported to CMS. Higher numbers indicate more direct care time.
Staff turnover
Lower turnover typically indicates better working conditions and continuity of care. National average for nursing staff is 46.4%.
Recent health inspection
CMS inspects nursing facilities regularly. Deficiencies are categorized by severity.
- Every deficiency from the March 5, 2026 inspection was corrected by March 23, 2026
What inspectors found at Avoca Specialty Care
Specific deficiencies cited in recent CMS health inspections, most recent first. Severity follows the CMS scope/severity scale. Source: CMS Care Compare.
- Potential for harm
Provide enough nursing staff every day to meet the needs of every resident; and have a licensed nurse in charge on each shift.
Nursing and Physician Services Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Develop and implement a complete care plan that meets all the resident's needs, with timetables and actions that can be measured.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Prevent the use of unnecessary psychotropic medications or use medications that may restrain a resident's ability to function.
Freedom from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Provide and implement an infection prevention and control program.
Infection Control Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Provide safe and appropriate respiratory care for a resident when needed.
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF)
Show all 12 deficiencies
- Potential for harm
Provide care and assistance to perform activities of daily living for any resident who is unable.
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Develop the complete care plan within 7 days of the comprehensive assessment; and prepared, reviewed, and revised by a team of health professionals.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Coordinate assessments with the pre-admission screening and resident review program; and referring for services as needed.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Ensure each resident receives an accurate assessment.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Honor the resident's right to a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment, including but not limited to receiving treatment and supports for daily living safely.
Resident Rights Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Honor the resident's right to request, refuse, and/or discontinue treatment, to participate in or refuse to participate in experimental research, and to formulate an advance directive.
Resident Rights Deficiencies · Mar 5, 2026 · Full report (PDF)
Read the full inspection reports on Medicare.gov Each inspection there has a “Read the full report” link with the inspectors’ written findings.
About this facility
- Address
- 610 East York Street
Avoca, IA 51521 - CMS certification #
- 165294
- Ownership
- For profit - Corporation
- Certified beds
- 46
- Avg residents/day
- 31.8
- Provider type
- Medicare and Medicaid
- First certified
- 1996-08-01
- Chain
- Care Initiatives (43 facilities)
- Setting
- Urban
Part of Care Initiatives
Care Initiatives operates 43 nursing facilities across the United States. View all Care Initiatives facilities →
Not SLA enrolled. This facility hasn’t enrolled in resident survey verification. Learn about enrollment →
Location and nearby
Explore the area around Avoca Specialty Care using Google Maps.
Other public records
- Website says Works with hospice
Full public records, with dates and sources
Care and services
From the community’s website
What Avoca Specialty Care says about itself, quoted from its own site. We have not checked these claims against licensing records. Ask about each one on a tour.
- Offers hospice care on site or works with hospice providers.
Care Initiatives is Iowa’s largest nonprofit provider of high-quality skilled nursing care, hospice care, assisted living, independent living, memory care and more.
(page, checked Oct 12, 2026)
Staff pay and workplace safety
Federal records about how the employer here treats its staff.
Federal wage and hour cases
The Department of Labor checks that staff are paid minimum wage and overtime as the law requires.
DOL also concluded 1 case here with no violations found, most recently for a period ending Jul 7, 2007.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division enforcement data, loaded Oct 15, 2026. Concluded cases only. The dates are the period in which DOL found violations, not when the case opened or closed. Back wages are what the employer agreed to pay; penalties are what DOL assessed. DOL does not publish a page for each case, so search the dataset by case number.
Location and nearby care
- Nearest hospital with an emergency room
- Myrtue Medical Center, Harlan. 10.3 miles away, straight line. CMS overall hospital rating: 3 of 5 stars.
- Nearest Medicare nursing home
- Elm Crest Retirement Community, Harlan. 10.3 miles away, straight line.
- Nearest home health agency office
- Myrtue Med Center Home Health, Harlan. 9.9 miles away, straight line. Agencies travel to clients, so ask which ones serve this address.
- Nearest pharmacy
- Hy-Vee Pharmacy. 10.0 miles away, straight line. From OpenStreetMap, which does not list every pharmacy, so one may be closer.
- Area
- USDA classes ZIP code 51521 as rural (rural area).
- Dialysis within 15 miles
- Davita Harlan Dialysis, Harlan, 9.9 miles away, straight line (CMS rating 3 of 5 stars)
- Hospice
- 4 Medicare hospices tell CMS they serve ZIP code 51521.
Myrtue Medical Center Hospice, office in Harlan, 9.9 miles away, straight line (CMS family survey rating 4 of 5 stars) - Nearest geriatric medicine practice
- Unmc Physicians, Omaha. 35.0 miles away, straight line. 1 geriatric medicine doctor listed there.
Distances are straight lines from the community, not driving distance. Hospitals, home health, dialysis, hospice and doctors come from CMS provider data (CMS, hospital list updated Jul 22, 2026). Star ratings are CMS’s own.
Emergency and natural hazard risk
Public hazard maps for this location. Ask the community about its emergency plan, its generator and where residents would go in an evacuation.
- Flood zone
- Outside the high and moderate risk flood areas on FEMA's flood map (Zone X, minimal flood hazard, or not studied). (FEMA flood map)
- FEMA National Risk Index
- Overall: relatively high. By hazard: inland flooding relatively high, wildfire relatively low, tornado very high, heat wave relatively moderate, earthquake very low. These are FEMA’s ratings for the census tract, compared with tracts nationwide. (FEMA, December 2025)
A flood zone describes the map at this point, not the building's elevation. In an emergency, follow the local emergency management agency.
What we checked
Every public source we searched for this community. “Nothing on record” means we found no record that matched it. A record can be missed when a name or address differs.
| Source | Data as of | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour cases | Oct 15, 2026 | See above |
| OSHA workplace safety inspections since 2016 | Oct 15, 2026 | Nothing on record |
| FEMA flood map | See above | |
| USDA wildfire risk | Apr 15, 2026 | Not shown: FEMA rates wildfire risk here relatively low |
| FEMA National Risk Index | See above | |
| CMS hospitals, home health, dialysis, hospice and doctors; OpenStreetMap pharmacies | See above | |
| HUD Multifamily Properties - Assisted | Jul 6, 2026 | Nothing on record |
| State Veterans Homes (NASVH directory) | Sep 20, 2026 | Nothing on record |
| CMS Hospice - General Information | Aug 19, 2026 | Nothing on record |
| CMS Home Health Care Agencies | May 27, 2026 | Nothing on record |
| The community’s own website | See above |
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Frequently asked questions
Is Avoca Specialty Care a good nursing home?
CMS gives Avoca Specialty Care an overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars, including 3/5 for staffing and 1/5 for health inspections. These ratings come from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and are updated monthly.
How is Avoca Specialty Care staffed?
Avoca Specialty Care reports 3.34 total nurse hours per resident per day, compared with the Iowa average of 3.83.
Has Avoca Specialty Care had inspection problems?
Its most recent CMS inspection cited 14 deficiencies.
How many beds does Avoca Specialty Care have?
Avoca Specialty Care is certified for 46 beds.