Salem Lutheran Home
2027 College Avenue, Elk Horn, IA, 51531
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Order the reportFederal Quality Data
Official records from CMS Care Compare — reported by the facility and audited by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. We present them unmodified. Refreshed June 2026.
CMS Star Ratings
Facility & Staffing
- Ownership
- For profit - Corporation · Chain: Good Samaritan Society
- Certified beds
- 64 · avg 55 residents/day
- Total nursing staff turnover
- 69.4% — higher than most Iowa nursing homesIowa avg: 44.4% · National avg: 46.1% · per CMS Care Compare
- RN turnover
- 72.7% — higher than most Iowa nursing homesIowa avg: 42.9% · National avg: 43.3% · per CMS Care Compare
Medicare certification
- CMS Certification Number
- 165155
- Certified beds
- 64 beds · avg 55 residents/day
- Ownership type
- For profit - Corporation
- Continuing-care community
- No
CMS Care Compare, processing date June 1, 2026
Ownership & operations
- Legal business name
- American Lutheran Church
- Chain affiliation
- Good Samaritan Society
CMS Care Compare, processing date June 1, 2026
Federal ownership record
Chain affiliation
Part of the Good Samaritan Society chain — 92 facilities across 10 states. Chain-wide average overall rating 3.0 / 5.
Disclosed owners (6 on record)
- Paul Jeffrey Gude
Corporate Officer · since 2021
- Tami Schechinger
Corporate Officer · since 2021
- Alan Blakestad
Corporate Officer · since 2020
- Nicklos Norby
Operational/managerial Control · since 2020
- Phil Nielsen
Corporate Officer · since 2016
- The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society
Operational/managerial Control · 100% · since 2007
Source: CMS Provider Enrollment data — SNF Enrollments + All Owners + Chain Performance Measures, as of May 2026.
Federal inspection record
Recent health-deficiency citations (most recent 8 of 38)
- D0550·Dec 15, 2025Complaint
Resident Rights Deficiencies
Honor the resident's right to a dignified existence, self-determination, communication, and to exercise his or her rights.
- D0677·Oct 8, 2025Complaint
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies
Provide care and assistance to perform activities of daily living for any resident who is unable.
- D0684·Jun 26, 2025Complaint
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies
Provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders, resident’s preferences and goals.
- D0609·Jun 26, 2025Complaint
Freedom from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Deficiencies
Timely report suspected abuse, neglect, or theft and report the results of the investigation to proper authorities.
- D0880·Jun 26, 2025
Infection Control Deficiencies
Provide and implement an infection prevention and control program.
- D0695·Jun 26, 2025
Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies
Provide safe and appropriate respiratory care for a resident when needed.
- D0644·Jun 26, 2025
Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies
Coordinate assessments with the pre-admission screening and resident review program; and referring for services as needed.
- D0607·Jun 26, 2025
Freedom from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Deficiencies
Develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft.
Fire-safety citations
17 Life-Safety-Code citations on file. Most recent: Jun 26, 2025. Fire-safety inspections cover building-level Life Safety Code compliance, separate from the resident-care health survey.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog — Health Deficiencies, Fire Safety Deficiencies, and Penalties datasets, snapshot Jun 1, 2026.
Facility background report
The entire federal paper trail on this facility, in one report.
We compile everything the government publishes about Salem Lutheran Homeinto one plain-English report: full inspection history with severity grades, every fine, staffing versus state averages, who really owns the facility, and how the owner's other facilities perform. Every fact cites its federal source.
Order the full background report — $249Where this information comes from
- Certification, capacity, ownership, star ratings, staffing, fines, deficiencies: CMS Care Compare, processing date June 1, 2026.
Data comes unaltered from the federal files. See every source we publish from.