Nursing home
Bethany Lutheran Home
Seven Elliott Street, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 · Map
Non profit - Other · 112 certified beds
Bethany Lutheran Home is a Medicare-certified nursing home in Council Bluffs, Iowa. CMS rates it 1 out of 5 stars overall (3/5 for staffing, 1/5 for health inspections). Nurse staffing is 4.04 hours per resident per day, above the Iowa average of 3.83. Its most recent inspection on Oct 2, 2025 cited 14 deficiencies.
- 3 fines totaling $55,846In CMS records: 3 total penalties.
CMS quality ratings
Ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), updated monthly. 5 stars is the highest quality.
How Bethany Lutheran Home 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) | 4.04 | 3.83 | 3.89 | above avg |
| RN staffing (hrs/resident/day) | 0.35 | 0.73 | 0.68 | below avg |
| Aide staffing (hrs/resident/day) | 2.76 | 2.53 | 2.34 | above avg |
| Nursing staff turnover | 42.5% | 43.9% | 46.4% | below 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.
Penalties in CMS records: 3 fines totaling $55,846, 3 total penalties.
What inspectors found at Bethany Lutheran Home
Specific deficiencies cited in recent CMS health inspections, most recent first. Severity follows the CMS scope/severity scale. Source: CMS Care Compare.
- Immediate jeopardy
Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Provide and implement an infection prevention and control program.
Infection Control Deficiencies · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - 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 · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Ensure that residents are free from significant medication errors.
Pharmacy Service Deficiencies · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF)
Show all 12 deficiencies
- 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 · Oct 2, 2025 · 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 · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Assess the resident when there is a significant change in condition
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · Oct 2, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Actual harm
Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies · May 30, 2025 · Full report (PDF) - Potential for harm
Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies · May 30, 2025 · 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 13, 2025 · 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 13, 2025 · 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
- Seven Elliott Street
Council Bluffs, IA 51503 - CMS certification #
- 165524
- Ownership
- Non profit - Other
- Certified beds
- 112
- Avg residents/day
- 87.9
- Provider type
- Medicare and Medicaid
- First certified
- 2003-11-01
- Setting
- Urban
Not SLA enrolled. This facility hasn’t enrolled in resident survey verification. Learn about enrollment →
Location and nearby
Explore the area around Bethany Lutheran Home using Google Maps.
Other public records
- Staff pay 1 federal wage case with violations found, since 2018
Full public records, with dates and sources
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.
- Findings for Sep 2, 2018 to Sep 1, 2020. Violations found: Overtime. Back wages: $2,743 owed to 2 employees. Employer as DOL recorded it: Bethany Lutheran Health Services (Bethany Lutheran Home). Case 1916431.
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
- Methodist Jennie Edmundson, Council Bluffs. 0.9 miles away, straight line. CMS overall hospital rating: 3 of 5 stars.
- Nearest Medicare nursing home
- Prairie Gate, Council Bluffs. 0.8 miles away, straight line.
- Nearest home health agency office
- Angels Care Home Health Of Iowa, Council Bluffs. 0.2 miles away, straight line. Agencies travel to clients, so ask which ones serve this address.
- Nearest pharmacy
- Walgreens. 1.1 miles away, straight line. From OpenStreetMap, which does not list every pharmacy, so one may be closer.
- Area
- USDA classes ZIP code 51503 as metropolitan (metropolitan core).
- Dialysis within 15 miles
- Davita Council Bluffs Dialysis Center, Council Bluffs, 1.5 miles away, straight line (CMS rating 2 of 5 stars)
Dialysis Clinics, Inc - Omaha, Omaha, 7.4 miles away, straight line (CMS rating 1 of 5 stars)
Davita Omaha South Dialysis, Omaha, 8.4 miles away, straight line (CMS rating 3 of 5 stars) - Hospice
- 16 Medicare hospices tell CMS they serve ZIP code 51503.
St Croix Hospice, office in Co Bluffs, 1.6 miles away, straight line (CMS family survey rating 3 of 5 stars)
Hillcrest Hospice, office in Council Bluffs, 2.6 miles away, straight line (CMS family survey rating 3 of 5 stars)
Aseracare Hospice, office in Council Bluffs, 5.0 miles away, straight line - Nearest geriatric medicine practice
- Unmc Physicians, Omaha. 7.9 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 low. By hazard: inland flooding relatively low, wildfire very low, tornado relatively 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 very 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 | Could not read the site |
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bethany Lutheran Home a good nursing home?
CMS gives Bethany Lutheran Home 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 Bethany Lutheran Home staffed?
Bethany Lutheran Home reports 4.04 total nurse hours per resident per day, compared with the Iowa average of 3.83.
Has Bethany Lutheran Home had inspection problems?
Its most recent CMS inspection cited 14 deficiencies.
How many beds does Bethany Lutheran Home have?
Bethany Lutheran Home is certified for 112 beds.