Avalon Healthcare Bellingham is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1986-03-01. 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 (360) 734-6760 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Avalon Healthcare Bellingham holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 4 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (3★), 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 79.5/100, placing it #3902 of 14703 facilities nationally and #70 of 194 in Washington. 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 Avalon Healthcare Bellingham receives a reported average of 4 hours 25 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 1 hour 7 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 47 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 31 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours 48 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. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

In the current reporting period, the facility received 2 fine(s) totaling $106,024. 73 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. There were 1 Medicare payment denial(s) in the current period. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 2 fine(s) totaling $106,024, and 1 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 3. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 101.75 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Avalon Healthcare Bellingham ranks 3902nd out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 79.5/100), placing it in the above average nationwide. Within WA, it ranks 70th out of 194 nursing homes. In Bellingham, it ranks 2nd out of 6 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 2nd of 4. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #2,700 nationally and RN hours rank #1,435 nationally (#37 in WA). Our composite quality score of 79.5/100 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 Bellingham, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/washington/bellingham/