The 10 Worst Nursing Homes in Alaska

  Worst Nursing Homes in Alaska By City

Every city in Alaska has its own set of challenges and standards when it comes to nursing home care. To help you find the information most relevant to your location, we've compiled city-specific rankings of the worst-rated nursing homes. Click on the links below to explore the detailed lists for each city.

Worst Nursing Homes in Anchorage

• Polaris Extended Care (286.5)
• Provide pharmaceutical services to meet the needs of each resident and employ or obtain the services of a licensed pharmacist. (2025-04-04)
• Ensure that residents are free from significant medication errors. (2025-04-04)
• Centennial Post Acute (167)
• Install an approved automatic sprinkler system. (2025-03-05)
• Have approved installation, maintenance and testing program for fire alarm systems. (2025-03-05)
• Polaris Transitional Care (60.25)
• Ensure that residents are fully informed and understand their health status, care and treatments. (2024-12-21)
• Properly hold, secure, and manage each resident's personal money which is deposited with the nursing home. (2024-12-21)

Worst Nursing Homes in Fairbanks

• Denali Center (95)
• Provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. (2025-03-14)
• Procure food from sources approved or considered satisfactory and store, prepare, distribute and serve food in accordance with professional standards. (2025-03-14)

Worst Nursing Homes in Juneau

• Wildflower Court (96)
• Ensure that residents are fully informed and understand their health status, care and treatments. (2024-04-01)
• Give residents notice of Medicaid/Medicare coverage and potential liability for services not covered. (2024-04-01)
• Clearview (37)
• Ensure heating and ventilation systems that have been properly installed according to the manufacturer's instructions. (2024-09-10)
• Provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. (2024-07-12)
• Clearview Brain Injury Center (4)
• Provide family notifications of emergency plan. (2025-04-30)
• Conduct risk assessment and an All-Hazards approach. (2025-04-30)

Worst Nursing Homes in Badger

Worst Nursing Homes in Knik-Fairview

  Related Lists and Resources

While it's important to be aware of the lowest-rated facilities, we also provide resources to help you find the best care available. Check out our other lists to find top-rated nursing homes and facilities that excel in specific areas.

• Best Nursing Homes in Alaska
• Analysis of Nursing Homes in Alaska

  Making Informed Decisions

Understanding our rankings and how they are derived can empower you to make better choices for your loved ones. Remember, a low rating in one area doesn't necessarily mean a facility is entirely unsuitable; it's a starting point for further investigation.

  Tips for Evaluating Nursing Homes in Alaska:

• Schedule visits to potential facilities
• Speak with staff and residents
• Review recent inspection reports
• Consider the specific needs of your loved one

Disclaimer: NursingHomeDatabase.com does not have a relationship, either commercial or otherwise, with any of the skilled nursing facilities referred to on this site. This is an independent resource that tries to make more and better information available to the public.

  More Resources for Families

Navigating the world of nursing home care can be overwhelming. Here are some resources to help you make the best decisions for your family:

• The Role of Family in Nursing Home Care
• Navigating Medicaid for Nursing Home Care
• How to Handle a Nursing Home Discharge
• Understanding Nursing Home Ratings and What They Mean
• Questions to Ask During a Nursing Home Visit

  How We Compile Nursing Home Ratings in Alaska

Every month, we rank all of the skilled nursing facilities in Alaska. These rankings are based on data provided by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid measures ("CMS"), including the CMS 5-Star Rating System and the Health Inspection Scores. The list of the Worst Skilled Nursing Facilities in Alaska is based on the weighted overall health inspection score which is a composite of CMS's three most recent skilled nursing home inspection scores weighted to give the most recent inspection more importance.

The CMS 5-Star Rating System rates skilled nursing facilities from one to five stars, with one star being the lowest and five stars being the highest. The rating system also rates Alaska nursing homes across five different dimensions including overall rating, health inspection rating, quality measures rating, overall staffing rating, and RN staffing rating (RN is an acronym for Registered Nurse).

In addition to the 5-Star Rating System, CMS provides numerical metrics that summarize:

• Health Inspection Domain. The health inspection rating is based on the three most recent standard surveys for each nursing home, results from any complaint investigations during the most recent three-year period, and any repeat revisits needed to verify that required corrections have brought the facility back into compliance. CMS calculates a weighted deficiency score based on points assigned to health deficiencies identified in each active provider’s current health inspection survey and the two prior surveys (including revisits), as well as deficiency findings from the most recent three years of complaint investigations. More recent surveys are weighted more heavily than older surveys: the most recent period (cycle 1) is assigned a weighting factor of 1/2, the previous period (cycle 2) has a weighting factor of 1/3, and the second prior survey (cycle 3) has a weighting factor of 1/6. The weighted time period scores are then summed to create the survey score for each facility.
• Staffing Domain. Using multiple reporting methods, CMS calculates the amount of time that the nursing staff spends with residents. This is measured across multiple dimensions, one each for three different levels of nursing, including Registered Nurses (“RNs”), Licensed Practical Nurses (“LPNs”), and Certified Nursing Assistants (“CNAs”), plus one metric that totals all contributions. These metrics are expressed in hours per resident per day. CMS also provides state-level and national averages for the metrics to allow for additional comparisons.
• Quality Measures Domain. A set of quality measures (QMs) has been developed from MDS-based indicators to describe the quality of care provided in nursing homes. These measures address a broad range of functioning and health status in multiple care areas. The facility rating for the QM domain is based on performance on a subset of 11 (out of 18) of the QMs. Ratings for the QM domain are calculated using the three most recent quarters for which data are available. This time period specification was selected to increase the number of assessments available for calculating the QM rating, increasing the stability of estimates and reducing the number of facilities that do not have enough data to report QM ratings.
• Abuse Flag. Abuse is always a concern in skilled nursing facilities. To highlight the issue, CMS has extracted this feature as its own flag. Facilities with an actual abuse event or where the potential for abuse has been shown for the past two years are flagged. The Health Inspection Score is capped at 2-stars for nursing homes that have been flagged for abuse.

Skilled nursing facilities that are new and do not have at least two surveys completed are not rated by CMS. These facilities may have health inspection scores that can be used to evaluate the facility.

One complication in Alaska nursing home inspections is the COVID-19 pandemic. Although inspections should be performed every 12 months, COVID has decreased this frequency. While CMS admits that only in “rare cases” do these inspections increase to 15 months, our analysis suggests that this time frame may be even longer. This report shows that the time between inspections is now just under 500 days (more than sixteen months). There are now hundreds of skilled nursing homes in the United States that have not been inspected in more than 24 months. This list shows the skilled nursing homes with the longest period since being inspected. According to the CMS data, these homes have not been inspected since 2018!