Cherokee County Nursing Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1998-01-01. 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 (918) 456-3456 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Cherokee County Nursing 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 (3★), Staffing (3★), and Quality of Resident Care (3★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 69.5/100, placing it #8550 of 14703 facilities nationally and #122 of 284 in Oklahoma. 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 Cherokee County Nursing Center receives a reported average of 4 hours 3 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 17 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 1 hour 7 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 39 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours 36 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 3 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 45.1%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

Cherokee County Nursing Center has received zero fines across all five years of available data (2022–2026), reflecting a strong regulatory compliance record. 3 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 0 fine(s) totaling $0, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 0. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 49.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Cherokee County Nursing Center ranks 8550th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 69.5/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within OK, it ranks 122nd out of 284 nursing homes. In Tahlequah, it ranks 1st out of 3 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 1st of 2. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #4,516 nationally and RN hours rank #13,039 nationally (#161 in OK). Our composite quality score of 69.5/100 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 Tahlequah, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/oklahoma/tahlequah/