Fort Bayard Medical Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 2009-06-20. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing care (typically up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay). Medicaid covers long-term care for residents who meet financial eligibility requirements. Contact the facility at (575) 537-8604 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Fort Bayard Medical Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 3 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (2★), Staffing (5★), and Quality of Resident Care (2★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 73.3/100, placing it #6768 of 14703 facilities nationally and #21 of 68 in New Mexico. Star ratings are a useful starting point, but the composite score and individual sub-ratings give a more complete picture for families comparing facilities.

Each resident at Fort Bayard Medical Center receives a reported average of 6 hours 29 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 1 hour 14 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 34 minutes; Nurse Aide — 4 hours 42 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 5 hours 27 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 5 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 40.3%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

In the current reporting period, the facility received 1 fine(s) totaling $83,501. 3 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. There were 2 Medicare payment denial(s) in the current period. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 1 fine(s) totaling $83,501, and 2 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 3. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 163.25 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Fort Bayard Medical Center ranks 6768th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 73.3/100), placing it in the above average nationwide. Within NM, it ranks 21st out of 68 nursing homes. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #233 nationally and RN hours rank #1,048 nationally (#3 in NM). Our composite quality score of 73.3/100 weighs health inspections, quality of resident care, staffing hours, compliance record, and five-year performance trends — giving a more complete picture than CMS star ratings alone, which can place hundreds of facilities in the same 5-star bucket. To browse and compare all nursing homes in Santa Clara, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/new_mexico/santa-clara/