USCareCheck

CMS certification 161334

Humboldt County Memorial Hospital

1000 North 15th Street, Humboldt, IA 50548

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Humboldt County Memorial Hospital. 68% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 5 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on none and worse on 1. Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 40 min 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.

CMS overall rating Not rated There are too few measures or measure groups reported to calculate a star rating or measure group score.
Would definitely recommend 68% US average 71%
Patient survey rating Not rated 32 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 1 worse 0 better of 5 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 32 completed surveys, 27% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Very few patients were eligible for the CAHPS survey. The scores shown reflect fewer than 50 completed surveys. Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess facility performance.
Would definitely recommend the hospital
68%
IA 76% · US 71%
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
79%
IA 78% · US 72%
Nurses always communicated well
78%
IA 83% · US 80%
Doctors always communicated well
76%
IA 82% · US 80%
Staff always explained new medicines
67%
IA 65% · US 62%
Given information about recovering at home
89%
IA 89% · US 86%
Room was always clean
81%
IA 78% · US 74%
Always quiet at night
68%
IA 65% · US 60%

This hospital Iowa average US average

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 · 265 visits sampled 1 h 40 min 2 h 3 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 21 visits sampled 2 h 46 min 3 h 37 min 4 h 17 min

How Humboldt County Memorial 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
Humboldt County Memorial HospitalThis hospitalNot rated68%1 h 40 min1 worse
Palo Alto County HospitalSame ZIP area · EmmetsburgNot rated84%1 h 43 minNo different
Iowa Specialty Hospital - ClarionSame ZIP area · ClarionNot rated83%1 h 48 minNo different
Kossuth Regional Health CenterSame ZIP area · Algona1/587%1 h 39 min1 worse
Buena Vista Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Storm Lake2/580%2 h 32 min2 worse
Trinity Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Fort Dodge2/555%2 h 47 min1 better 1 worse

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.

Deaths

How many patients died within 30 days of admission, adjusted by CMS for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2025.

Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
All patients, hospital-wide 76 cases Too few cases 4.9% 3.9%
Pneumonia 60 cases Too few cases 15.5% 15.2%

5 more measures had too few cases here to report.

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.

1 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after pneumonia 39 cases Too few cases 17.6% 17.3%
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 61 cases Too few cases 36.8 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 72 cases No different 13 per 1,000 likely 9.6 per 1,000 – 17.8 per 1,000 13 per 1,000

11 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Not reported for this hospital

CMS had too few cases here to publish results for complications, infections caught in the hospital. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.

Clinicians registered at this address

10 clinicians give this hospital's street address as their practice location in NPPES, the federal provider registry. The same address can take in offices and clinics in the building, and a listing does not prove admitting privileges or current employment.

Specialty Clinicians
Mental Health 2
Nurse Practitioner 2
Diabetes Educator 1
Dietitian, Registered 1
Family Medicine 1
Pharmacist 1
Physical Therapist 1
Psychiatric/Mental Health 1

First 10 alphabetically

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 Humboldt County Memorial Hospital

Is Humboldt County Memorial Hospital a good hospital?

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Humboldt County Memorial Hospital. Of the 5 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on none and worse on 1. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Humboldt County Memorial Hospital?

68% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 32 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 40 min 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.