Ketchikan Med Ctr: 10 Deficiencies, Staff Gaps - AK
On July 23, 2025, the administrator of Ketchikan Med Ctr New Horizons Transitional Care told visitors they could not stay for the facility's resident council meeting. Multiple residents said out loud that they wanted the visitors to remain. The administrator removed them anyway.
The Chief Nursing Officer was in the room. She told inspectors during a September 4 interview that she personally witnessed several residents state they wanted the visitors to stay. She confirmed the administrator told them to leave.
One of the visitors, identified in inspection records as Visitor 3, told inspectors he or she had been invited to the meeting because residents had concerns they wanted to voice, specifically about activities. When Visitor 3 arrived, the administrator said she didn't want the meeting to turn political. She asked Visitor 3 multiple times not to attend. Visitor 3 left voluntarily, the inspection record states, not wanting to cause a disruption.
The facility's own written policies, available to residents, stated they had the right to visitors of their choosing at the time of their choosing, the right to organize and participate in resident groups, and the right to exercise those rights without interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal. The visitation policy, dated January 3, 2025, described visitation as resident-centered and specifically listed resident advocates among those residents were permitted to meet with.
The resident council meeting policy, dated January 10, 2025, described its purpose as promoting resident empowerment and giving residents a voice about the care being provided to them. Inspectors found no documentation in that policy that residents were permitted to invite visitors to meetings, which inspectors cited as the gap that left the door open for what happened.
Federal inspectors cited the violation as affecting many residents, with potential for harm.
The residents who said out loud that they wanted their visitors to stay were overruled in the meeting that existed, on paper, to give them a voice.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Ketchikan Med Ctr New Horizons Transitional Care from 2025-09-09 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
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 6, 2026 · Our methodology
KETCHIKAN MED CTR NEW HORIZONS TRANSITIONAL CARE in KETCHIKAN, AK was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 9, 2025.
Multiple residents said out loud that they wanted the visitors to remain.
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.