Clearwater Nursing & Rehab: No RN on Duty Violation - KS
Federal health inspectors cited the facility on June 3, 2026, for failing to have a registered nurse on duty eight hours a day and for failing to designate a registered nurse as director of nursing on a full-time basis. The deficiency was classified as widespread, meaning the lapse was not isolated to a single shift or a single wing. Inspectors found no documented actual harm, but rated the violation at a level indicating potential for more than minimal harm to residents.
The facility has not filed a plan of correction.
Clearwater Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is a small-town Kansas nursing home, and like many rural facilities, it operates in a healthcare labor market where registered nurses are scarce and recruitment is a persistent challenge. None of that context appears in the inspection report. What does appear is the finding itself: the staffing floor was not met, and no one in a position of authority has yet put in writing how or when that will change.
The registered nurse deficiency was one of 16 cited during the same inspection. Sixteen deficiencies in a single survey is not a routine outcome. It suggests inspectors found problems distributed across multiple areas of facility operations, not a single department or a single bad day. The inspection report does not detail the other 15 findings, but their number adds weight to what might otherwise look like a paperwork problem.
It is not a paperwork problem.
The registered nurse requirement exists because of what RNs are trained to do that other staff are not. A certified nursing assistant can notice that a resident seems off. A licensed practical nurse can administer medications and perform many clinical tasks. But the registered nurse carries the clinical authority and the training to assess, interpret, and act on what others observe. When that role goes unfilled for stretches of a day, the chain of clinical oversight has a gap in it. The inspection report does not describe a specific resident who was harmed during those gaps. It does not need to. The category exists because the risk is real and documented across the industry.
The director of nursing finding compounds the concern. The DON is not simply a scheduler or a supervisor of floor staff. In a nursing home, the director of nursing sets the clinical culture, manages care planning, oversees infection control, and is the person most directly responsible for whether residents receive the level of care their conditions require. When that position is not filled on a full-time basis by a registered nurse, the clinical leadership of the facility is, by definition, compromised.
At Clearwater, both failures were cited together, under the same regulatory tag, on the same day.
The correction status as of the inspection record is stark: deficient, with no plan of correction submitted. Facilities cited for deficiencies are expected to respond with a timeline and a method for fixing what inspectors found. The absence of a plan does not mean the facility has done nothing since June 3. It means that as of the record available, nothing has been committed to in writing.
Residents at Clearwater Nursing & Rehabilitation Center are, by the nature of the facility, people who cannot simply leave when the staffing falls short. They are there because they need nursing care. Some are recovering from surgeries or strokes, dependent on skilled clinical oversight during the hours when their conditions are most likely to shift. Others are long-term residents for whom the facility is home, and for whom the quality of daily nursing supervision shapes the quality of every day.
The inspectors left. The citation stands. The plan of correction box is empty.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Clearwater Nursing & Rehabilitation Center from 2026-06-03 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 5, 2026 · Our methodology
CLEARWATER NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER in CLEARWATER, KS was cited for violations during a health inspection on June 3, 2026.
The deficiency was classified as widespread, meaning the lapse was not isolated to a single shift or a single wing.
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.