Northgate Care Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1997-08-01. 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 (563) 568-3493 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Northgate Care 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 65.1/100, placing it #10317 of 14703 facilities nationally and #257 of 390 in Iowa. 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 Northgate Care Center receives a reported average of 2 hours 48 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 22 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 31 minutes; Nurse Aide — 1 hour 55 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 2 hours 29 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 23.5%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

Northgate Care Center has received zero fines across all five years of available data (2022–2026), reflecting a strong regulatory compliance record. One substantiated complaint was recorded across the 5-year period. 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 42.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Northgate Care Center ranks 10317th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 65.1/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within IA, it ranks 257th out of 390 nursing homes. In Waukon, it ranks 1st out of 2 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 1st of 2. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #13,669 nationally and RN hours rank #11,579 nationally (#352 in IA). Our composite quality score of 65.1/100 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 Waukon, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/iowa/waukon/