Fort Dodge Health and Rehab: Assessment Failures - IA]
The inspection, completed August 27, 2025, found that assessment forms for at least one resident contained incomplete documentation across multiple evaluation dates, with a nurse on staff unable to account for what the existing notes actually meant.
Inspectors reviewed wound documentation that showed a pattern of partial recordkeeping. On August 20, a left knee area wound was measured at 0.1 centimeters. The same date, a Stage II ulcer was noted on the resident's right buttock. A separate notation referenced the right shin. The assessment form was missing other required evaluations entirely.
When inspectors interviewed Staff C, the registered nurse, at 11:10 in the morning on August 27, she told them the description of scabbing in the record had come from a previous employee. She said she didn't know what it meant.
That answer was the whole problem. The record belonged to a resident in her care. The wound was on that resident's body. The nurse responsible for that resident's current status was working from documentation she couldn't interpret, left behind by someone who no longer worked there, with no apparent effort to resolve the gap.
A facility policy on assessment accuracy, last reviewed in August 2018, directed staff to ensure all assessments accurately reflected each resident's status. What inspectors found was a form that didn't, and a nurse who confirmed she didn't know enough about the existing entries to say whether they did or didn't.
The citation was tagged F0636, covering the accuracy of resident assessments under Medicare and Medicaid standards. The level of harm was classified as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and inspectors noted that a few residents were affected.
Wound staging matters in a way that makes incomplete records more than a paperwork problem. A Stage II ulcer, the kind documented on this resident's right buttock, involves partial thickness skin loss. Tracking its progression, or its healing, requires consistent and legible documentation that the next nurse can read and act on. When a wound description sits in a chart with no one able to explain it, the clinical picture for whoever treats that resident next is built on a foundation nobody can verify.
The facility's own policy acknowledged this. It has acknowledged it since at least 2018, when the document was last reviewed. What the inspection found on August 27, 2025, was a nurse reading from a record she couldn't explain and a form with sections left blank.
Fort Dodge Health and Rehabilitation is located at 728 14th Avenue North. The inspection was a complaint survey, meaning someone raised a concern that prompted regulators to investigate. The resulting report covered thirteen pages. This deficiency appeared on page five.
The resident whose record contained the incomplete assessments and the unexplained wound notation remained in the facility's care.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Fort Dodge Health and Rehabilitation from 2025-08-27 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: October 3, 2026 · Our methodology
Fort Dodge Health and Rehabilitation in Fort Dodge, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 27, 2025.
Inspectors reviewed wound documentation that showed a pattern of partial recordkeeping.
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.