Northern Mahaska Specialty Care is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1996-04-05. 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 (641) 673-3000 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Northern Mahaska Specialty Care holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 2 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (2★), 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 64.3/100, placing it #10629 of 14703 facilities nationally and #266 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 Northern Mahaska Specialty Care receives a reported average of 3 hours 12 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 25 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 35 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 11 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 2 hours 50 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 38.0%. 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 $46,989. 74 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 $46,989, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 2. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 46.75 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Northern Mahaska Specialty Care ranks 10629th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 64.3/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within IA, it ranks 266th out of 390 nursing homes. In Oskaloosa, it ranks 1st out of 3 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 1st of 3. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #12,014 nationally and RN hours rank #10,505 nationally (#338 in IA). Our composite quality score of 64.3/100 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 Oskaloosa, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/iowa/oskaloosa/