Ten Iowa care facilities cited for abuse have federal ‘gold trophy’ status

Ten Iowa nursing homes eligible for abbreviated state inspections were cited for resident-abuse violations in 2025-2026, a new study has found.

According to the nonprofit organization The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, a new analysis of federal data indicates that between April 2025 and July 2026, 173 of the 1,699 nursing homes currently ranked as “high performing” by federal regulators were cited at least once for failing to protect residents from abuse and neglect.

The analysis was prompted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ new initiative that calls for an abbreviated inspection process for facilities that CMS has designated as high performers.

All 173 of the homes cited for failing to protect residents from abuse currently qualify for the abbreviated inspection process and have been awarded gold-trophy icons that are displayed on CMS’ Care Compare website — a search tool the public is encouraged to use to locate nursing homes and assess the quality of their care.

Beginning on Sept. 8, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began using a new risk-based inspection process for selected nursing homes across the country, replacing the traditional, more thorough process at those facilities that CMS considers higher performing, lower risk homes.

According to Consumer Voice, most of the relevant abuse-related citations, in Iowa and nationally, have involved allegations the homes failed to report to state inspectors incidents of resident abuse and neglect.

That specific violation was cited at 100 of the 173 care facilities, while failing to properly investigate abuse was cited at 53 facilities, and the underlying abuse and neglect was cited at 42 facilities. (Some homes were cited for more than one violation, with a total of 235 abuse-related citations being issued at the 173 nursing homes.)

Consumer Voice has opposed CMS’ new risk-based inspection system of performing less comprehensive inspections at homes considered to be high performers, arguing that the high-performing designation isn’t reflective of the quality of care provided in the past, present or future.

Last month, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that 75 of Iowa’s 393 nursing facilities were subject to the abbreviated form of government inspections under the new risk-based system. And while CMS’ criteria for selecting those facilities emphasizes favorable outcomes for infection control and staffing levels, a Capital Dispatch review of the 75 Iowa homes showed some of those facilities had been cited for violating both standards.

In June 2026, for example, inspectors visited the Good Samaritan Home in St. Ansgar, and cited the facility for insufficient staffing and for infection-control issues. The home, inspectors found, had failed on four separate days in one two-week period to meet the federal mandate of having at least one registered nurse on duty for eight consecutive hours each day.

In November 2025, inspectors conducted an annual inspection at Wapello Specialty Care and cited the home for infection control issues.

Originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch, a nonprofit news organization.