Vista Woods Care Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 2004-08-01. 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 (641) 683-3372 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Vista Woods Care Center 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 (4★), Staffing (4★), 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 66.0/100, placing it #9943 of 14703 facilities nationally and #249 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 Vista Woods Care Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 45 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 42 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 25 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 38 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours 8 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 4 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 36.4%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

Vista Woods Care Center has received zero fines across all five years of available data (2022–2026), reflecting a strong regulatory compliance record. No substantiated complaints have been recorded in the available data. There were 1 Medicare payment denial(s) in the current period. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 0 fine(s) totaling $0, and 1 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 1. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 11.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Vista Woods Care Center ranks 9943rd out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 66.0/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within IA, it ranks 249th out of 390 nursing homes. In Ottumwa, it ranks 3rd out of 3 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 3rd of 3. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #6,672 nationally and RN hours rank #4,899 nationally (#161 in IA). Our composite quality score of 66.0/100 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 Ottumwa, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/iowa/ottumwa/