Desert Terrace Healthcare Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1972-08-01. 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 (602) 273-1347 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Desert Terrace 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 (3★), Staffing (3★), and Quality of Resident Care (4★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 73.2/100, placing it #6796 of 14703 facilities nationally and #119 of 140 in Arizona. 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 Desert Terrace Healthcare Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 35 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 37 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 57 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 1 minute. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours 7 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 51.4%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

The facility has received 6 fine(s) over the 5-year period, totaling $104,096. 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 0 fine(s) totaling $0, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 0. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 35.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Desert Terrace Healthcare Center ranks 6796th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 73.2/100), placing it in the above average nationwide. Within AZ, it ranks 119th out of 140 nursing homes. In Phoenix, it ranks 22nd out of 23 facilities. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #8,241 nationally and RN hours rank #6,298 nationally (#69 in AZ). Our composite quality score of 73.2/100 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 Phoenix, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/arizona/phoenix/