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Colonial Health Services: Immediate Jeopardy Violation - WI

Healthcare Facility
Colonial Health Services
Colby, WI  ·  2/5 stars

Immediate jeopardy means inspectors determined the failures had placed residents in a situation where serious injury, harm, or death was likely or had already occurred. It is not a routine citation.

The inspection, triggered by a complaint, was completed August 19, 2025. The specific details of what happened to individual residents, what symptoms went unnoticed, and how long doctors went without being called are not fully described in the publicly available portion of the inspection record. What is documented is the facility's own acknowledgment of the problem: nurses were not completing thorough assessments when residents showed signs of change, and they were not contacting primary care physicians as they should have been.

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The facility's director of nursing responded by pulling nurses together for retraining on the change-of-condition policy. The retraining centered on a documentation tool called SBAR, which stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation, and is designed to give nurses a structured way to communicate with physicians about a resident's condition. The facility also referenced a separate clinical tool, E-Interact, which is used to guide staff decisions about when a change in a resident's status requires escalation.

According to the plan of correction the facility submitted, all residents who had experienced a change in condition were to receive a complete assessment by August 6, 2025, nearly two weeks before the inspection was finalized. The director of nursing, the executive director, and someone identified as a vice president of success reviewed the facility's policies that same day and determined the policies themselves were adequate. The problem, in other words, was not the rules. It was whether nurses were following them.

The facility committed to daily audits of nursing documentation and physician notification records for two weeks, followed by five audits per week for six more weeks. An emergency meeting of the facility's quality assurance committee was held August 6, with the director of nursing, executive director, and vice president of success all present.

None of that changes what the inspection record makes clear: at a nursing home in a small central Wisconsin city, residents experienced changes in their condition, and the nurses responsible for catching those changes and calling doctors either did not recognize what was happening or did not act on it. Under federal standards, that constitutes an immediate threat to health and safety.

How many residents were affected is described in the inspection record only as "few." What happened to them after their conditions changed without a physician being notified is not stated in the available record.

The facility is located at 702 West Dolf Street in Colby, a city of roughly 1,900 people in Clark County. It operates under the CMS provider number 525350.

Inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services do not declare immediate jeopardy lightly. The designation triggers a requirement that the facility correct the problem before inspectors leave or face the possibility of termination from Medicare and Medicaid. The plan of correction Colonial Health Services submitted indicates the facility moved quickly to address the finding before the August 19 inspection close date.

Whether the audits, the retraining, and the emergency quality meetings translated into anything different for the residents who were already affected, the inspection record does not say.

Full Inspection Report

The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Colonial Health Services from 2025-08-19 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.

Additional Resources


Editorial Standards

Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.

Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.

Last verified: August 4, 2026  ·  Our methodology

Quick Answer

COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES in COLBY, WI was cited for immediate jeopardy violations during a health inspection on August 19, 2025.

The inspection, triggered by a complaint, was completed August 19, 2025.

Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened at COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES?
The inspection, triggered by a complaint, was completed August 19, 2025.
How serious are these violations?
These are very serious violations that may indicate significant patient safety concerns. Federal regulations require nursing homes to maintain the highest standards of care. Families should review the full inspection report and consider whether this facility meets their safety expectations.
What should families do?
Families should: (1) Ask facility administration about specific corrective actions taken, (2) Request to see the follow-up inspection report verifying corrections, (3) Check if this represents a pattern by reviewing prior inspection reports, (4) Compare this facility's ratings with other nursing homes in COLBY, WI, (5) Report any new concerns directly to state authorities.
Where can I see the full inspection report?
The complete inspection report is available on Medicare.gov's Care Compare website (www.medicare.gov/care-compare). You can also request a copy directly from COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES or from the state Department of Health. The report includes specific deficiency codes, facility responses, and correction timelines. This facility's federal provider number is 525350.
Has this facility had violations before?
To check COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES's history, visit Medicare.gov's Care Compare and review their inspection history, quality ratings, and staffing levels. Look for patterns of repeated violations, especially in critical areas like abuse prevention, medication management, infection control, and resident safety.


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