Buena Vista Care Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1989-11-20. 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 (805) 964-4871 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Buena Vista Care Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 2 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (2★), Staffing (1★), and Quality of Resident Care (5★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 72.5/100, placing it #7140 of 14703 facilities nationally and #756 of 1162 in California. 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 Buena Vista Care Center receives a reported average of 2 hours 38 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 15 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 43 minutes; Nurse Aide — 1 hour 40 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 2 hours 34 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 1 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. 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 $68,250. 22 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 1 fine(s) totaling $68,250, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 1. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 139.25 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Buena Vista Care Center ranks 7140th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 72.5/100), placing it in the above average nationwide. Within CA, it ranks 756th out of 1,162 nursing homes. In Santa Barbara, it ranks 6th out of 7 facilities. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #13,902 nationally and RN hours rank #13,323 nationally (#1056 in CA). Our composite quality score of 72.5/100 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 Santa Barbara, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/california/santa-barbara/