Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1967-01-01. 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 (619) 444-1107 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare 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 (3★), 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 80.7/100, placing it #3374 of 14703 facilities nationally and #417 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 Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center receives a reported average of 4 hours 14 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 26 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 1 hour 16 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 32 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 4 hours 5 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 36.7%. 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 $11,408. 58 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 $11,408, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 1. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 121.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center ranks 3374th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 80.7/100), placing it in the top 25% nationwide. Within CA, it ranks 417th out of 1,162 nursing homes. In El Cajon, it ranks 5th out of 12 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 3rd of 5. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #3,510 nationally and RN hours rank #10,350 nationally (#686 in CA). Our composite quality score of 80.7/100 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 El Cajon, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/california/el-cajon/