North Carolina Nursing Homes: Violations, Fines and Worst Records

A 49.0% staff turnover rate was recorded at North Carolina nursing homes, meaning that portion of the nursing staff left within a year. The national average stands at 45.8% in the federal Medicare inspection records that CMS, the federal Medicare agency, releases. The state turnover rate is measured against it. Those records also show 251 of 406 reporting homes statewide falling short of the daily nurse hours their residents' care needs call for. In North Carolina, corporate chains operate 319 facilities, and the biggest chain is Principle Long Term Care, which has 36 homes.

Across the three most recent inspection cycles, inspectors for the state issued 355 citations under the rules covering accident hazards and resident supervision. Of that total, 189 supervision citations issued in North Carolina involved resident harm or immediate danger, the most common harm-level citation in the state. Two homes with persistent inspection problems, Blumenthal Health and Rehabilitation Center and Rockwell Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, also appear on the federal Special Focus Facility program list. A $325,563 penalty, handed down in May 2024 to the Sylva facility Vero Health & Rehab of Sylva, stands as North Carolina's biggest single federal fine since September 2023.

State inspection and complaint survey results dating back to March 1, 2011, are available to families through the DHSR Regulated Facilities and Statements of Deficiencies search site. A statement of deficiencies in North Carolina is the posted report in which inspectors record every rule a nursing home violated, along with the home's plan of correction. Federal inspection reports on Form CMS-2567 are also linked from the page for each North Carolina home on Medicare Care Compare, a federal search site formerly known as Nursing Home Compare.

If you are concerned about unsafe care, you can submit a nursing home complaint to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Service Regulation, or call 1-800-624-3004. Families dealing with day-to-day care disputes can reach the North Carolina Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, part of the state Division of Aging, at (919) 855-3400; an ombudsman serves residents as a free advocate. North Carolina Adult Protective Services also takes reports when an older or disabled adult is thought to be abused, neglected, or exploited.