Hillcrest Health Care Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1994-11-16. 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 (712) 551-1074 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Hillcrest Health Care Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 1 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (1★), Staffing (2★), 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 53.1/100, placing it #13597 of 14703 facilities nationally and #357 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 Hillcrest Health Care Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 9 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 33 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 45 minutes; Nurse Aide — 1 hour 51 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 2 hours 40 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 2 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 56.1%. 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 $25,450. 85 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 2 fine(s) totaling $25,450, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 2. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 132.5 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Hillcrest Health Care Center ranks 13597th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 53.1/100), placing it in the bottom 25% nationwide. Within IA, it ranks 357th out of 390 nursing homes. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #12,304 nationally and RN hours rank #7,530 nationally (#257 in IA). Our composite quality score of 53.1/100 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 Hawarden, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/iowa/hawarden/