Tsali Care Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1996-04-18. 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 (828) 497-5048 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Tsali Care Center 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 (1★), Staffing (5★), and Quality of Resident Care (2★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 69.8/100, placing it #8377 of 14703 facilities nationally and #185 of 418 in North Carolina. 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 Tsali Care Center receives a reported average of 6 hours 2 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 1 hour 10 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 46 minutes; Nurse Aide — 4 hours 5 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 5 hours 37 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 5 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 42.2%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

In the current reporting period, the facility received 9 fine(s) totaling $205,165. 13 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. There were 2 Medicare payment denial(s) in the current period. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 9 fine(s) totaling $205,165, and 2 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 11. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 293.5 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Tsali Care Center ranks 8377th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 69.8/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within NC, it ranks 185th out of 418 nursing homes. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #359 nationally and RN hours rank #1,226 nationally (#18 in NC). Our composite quality score of 69.8/100 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 Cherokee, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/north_carolina/cherokee/