CMS certification 161305
Pocahontas Community Hospital
606 N W 7th Street, Pocahontas, IA 50574
CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Pocahontas Community Hospital. On all 1 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min).
Every figure on this page is published by CMS; we arrange and explain it, and score nothing ourselves.
What patients said
Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
Emergency department
How long emergency patients spent here and how some time-critical care went, from CMS's timely and effective care measures, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025. These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.
| Measure | This hospital | IA | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 173 visits sampled | 2 h | 2 h 3 min | 2 h 42 min |
How Pocahontas Community Hospital compares with nearby hospitals
The closest hospitals of the same kind that CMS rates or surveys - the same city first, then the same county and ZIP area. Every figure is CMS's: the overall star rating, the share of patients who would definitely recommend the hospital, the median time emergency patients spent before leaving, and how many death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS found better or worse than the national rate.
| Hospital | CMS stars | Would recommend | ER median time | Vs the nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pocahontas Community HospitalThis hospital | Not rated | — | 2 h | No different |
| Buena Vista Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Storm Lake | 2/5 | 80% | 2 h 32 min | 2 worse |
| Van Diest Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Webster City | 5/5 | 84% | 1 h 43 min | 2 better |
| Humboldt County Memorial HospitalSame ZIP area · Humboldt | Not rated | 68% | 1 h 40 min | 1 worse |
| Palo Alto County HospitalSame ZIP area · Emmetsburg | Not rated | 84% | 1 h 43 min | No different |
| Iowa Specialty Hospital - ClarionSame ZIP area · Clarion | Not rated | 83% | 1 h 48 min | No different |
Hospitals differ in size and in how sick their patients are. CMS adjusts its outcome measures for that, but a star or a percentage is a starting point for questions, not a verdict.
Readmissions and return visits
How often patients had to come back to a hospital after going home. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2023 – Jun 2025.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 190 cases | No different | 12.3 per 1,000 likely 9 per 1,000 – 16.6 per 1,000 | 13 per 1,000 |
13 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Not reported for this hospital
CMS had too few cases here to publish results for deaths, complications, infections caught in the hospital. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.
How to read this page
- Everything here is published by CMS on Care Compare. We arrange it and explain it; the star ratings and the better / worse verdicts are CMS's, not ours.
- “No different” is the most common result on most measures at most hospitals. CMS only calls a result better or worse when the difference from the national rate is statistically clear.
- Death, complication and readmission rates are adjusted by CMS for how sick patients were, so hospitals that treat sicker patients can be compared fairly.
- Infection results are ratios: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one, below 1.0 is fewer.
- These are hospital-wide results. They do not rate an individual doctor, nurse or department, and they are not medical advice.
CMS Care Compare data retrieved 4 Oct 2026, refreshed weekly. Where this data comes from and how we handle it · Report an error
Common questions about Pocahontas Community Hospital
Is Pocahontas Community Hospital a good hospital?
CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Pocahontas Community Hospital. On all 1 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.
How long is the wait in the Pocahontas Community Hospital emergency room?
Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.