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Last updated: May 2026
AHC Bethesda is a licensed nursing home located at 444 One Eleven Place, Cookeville, Tennessee 38506. The facility can be reached at (931) 525-6655. It participates in both Medicare and Medicaid.
This page summarizes publicly available inspection data, CMS star ratings, deficiency citations, and complaint investigation findings for AHC Bethesda based on records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Care Compare database.
AHC Bethesda’s inspection record raises significant concerns that families should understand — including three separate complaint investigations in three years, an abuse and financial exploitation complaint, and a 2022 standard survey that cited 21 deficiencies — nearly four and a half times the Tennessee state average. If your loved one has suffered a serious injury or died at AHC Bethesda, this information may be relevant to your legal situation. Tennessee nursing home abuse lawyer
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars — Below Average
Health Inspections: 2 out of 5 stars — Below Average
Staffing: 2 out of 5 stars — Below Average
Quality Measures: 2 out of 5 stars — Below Average
CMS Provider ID: 445427
Inspection data last verified: April 2026
Source: Medicare.gov Care Compare
AHC Bethesda carries a 2-star below average rating across every single component — overall, health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. When a facility underperforms in all four categories simultaneously, it indicates that the problems are not confined to one area of operations. Below-average performance across the board reflects systemic issues in care delivery, staffing, and regulatory compliance.
Before reviewing the standard survey history, the complaint investigation record at AHC Bethesda warrants close attention. Three separate complaint investigations were conducted at this facility in less than three years — January 2026, May 2024, and September 2023. Each investigation identified deficiencies. That frequency of complaint activity is a meaningful indicator of ongoing concerns at the facility.
Three Complaint Investigations: January 2026, May 2024, September 2023
Each investigation resulted in cited deficiencies. Three complaint investigations in less than three years is an above-average rate of complaint activity at a single facility.
May 2024 Complaint Investigation — Abuse and Financial Exploitation Findings
Failed to protect each resident from all types of abuse including physical, mental, and sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect by anybody. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. A complaint investigation finding of failure to protect residents from abuse is among the most serious findings that can appear in a nursing home’s record. It means government surveyors, following a complaint, found that the facility did not adequately protect its residents from harm at the hands of others.
Failed to protect each resident from the wrongful use of the resident’s belongings or money. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Financial exploitation of nursing home residents — the misuse of their belongings or funds — is a form of elder abuse. This deficiency was cited during the same May 2024 complaint investigation.
Failed to honor the resident’s right to a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected.
Failed to provide care and assistance to perform activities of daily living for residents who are unable. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Failed to provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders, resident’s preferences and goals. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Failed to develop the complete care plan within 7 days of the comprehensive assessment. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. This care planning deficiency also appears in the 2022 and 2019 standard surveys — indicating a recurring, multi-year failure.
Failed to immediately notify the resident, the resident’s doctor, and a family member of situations affecting the resident — including injury, decline, or room changes. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Families have a right to be informed promptly when something significant happens to their loved one. This deficiency indicates that right was not honored.
Failed to provide required documentation or notification related to the resident’s needs, appeal rights, or bed-hold policies. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
The May 2025 survey cited six deficiencies. The Tennessee average for this period was 5.7 — AHC Bethesda performed near the state average in terms of deficiency count, though the categories cited reflect ongoing compliance challenges.
Infection Control — Failed to provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected. Infection control failures affecting some residents indicate a systemic gap in how the facility prevents and manages infections. This same deficiency category has been cited in all three standard survey cycles — 2019, 2022, and 2025. A recurring infection control deficiency across six years of inspections suggests the facility has not made sustained improvements in this area. Inadequate infection control is a known risk factor for serious conditions including sepsis and urinary tract infections.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to assess the resident completely in a timely manner when first admitted, and then periodically. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to develop and implement a complete care plan that meets all the resident’s needs, with timetables and actions that can be measured. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Care planning deficiencies appear in the 2019, 2022, and 2025 surveys as well as the 2023 complaint investigation — four separate inspection events over six years documenting the same category of failure.
Resident Rights — Failed to provide required documentation or notification related to the resident’s needs, appeal rights, or bed-hold policies. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection January 21, 2026.)
Environmental — Failed to keep all essential equipment working safely. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected. An environmental deficiency affecting many residents — the broadest scope designation — means a facility-wide failure to maintain safe equipment. This is not an isolated problem.
Administration — Failed to arrange for hospice services or assist the resident in transferring to a facility that will arrange for hospice services. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Failure to facilitate hospice services for a resident who needs them is a serious lapse in end-of-life care.
21 Deficiencies Cited — More Than Four Times the State Average
The March 2022 standard survey cited 21 deficiencies at AHC Bethesda — compared to a Tennessee state average of 4.7 and a national average of 9.8. AHC Bethesda’s deficiency count was more than four times the state average and more than double the national average.
Twenty-one deficiencies in a single standard survey cycle is a significant finding. The breadth and scope of these deficiencies — spanning abuse protection, activities of daily living, pressure ulcer care, accident prevention, infection control, staffing, resident rights, and nutrition — indicates that the compliance failures in 2022 were not confined to one area of the facility’s operations. They were widespread across multiple departments and multiple categories of resident care.
Freedom from Abuse — Failed to protect each resident from all types of abuse. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection May 21, 2024.) See complaint investigation section above.
Freedom from Abuse — Failed to protect each resident from the wrongful use of their belongings or money. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection May 21, 2024.)
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide care and assistance to perform activities of daily living for residents who are unable. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders and resident preferences and goals. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide appropriate pressure ulcer care and prevent new ulcers from developing. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Pressure ulcers — also called bedsores — are among the most preventable injuries in nursing home care. A citation for failure to prevent and treat pressure ulcers is a serious finding.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to ensure the nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. This same deficiency category produced a Level 3 Actual Harm finding in the 2019 survey. Falls and fractures
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide appropriate continence care, catheter care, and care to prevent urinary tract infections. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected. Inadequate continence care is a known risk factor for urinary tract infections, which can progress to sepsis in elderly residents.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide appropriate colostomy, urostomy, or ileostomy care for residents who require such services. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide safe and appropriate respiratory care for residents when needed. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected.
Infection Control — Failed to provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected. An infection control failure affecting many residents — the broadest scope designation — indicates a facility-wide breakdown in infection prevention protocols.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to develop and implement a complete care plan. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to develop the complete care plan within 7 days of comprehensive assessment. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Nursing and Physician Services — Failed to provide enough nursing staff every day to meet the needs of every resident; and have a licensed nurse in charge on each shift. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected. A staffing deficiency affecting many residents is one of the most significant findings in this survey. It means surveyors found that the facility did not consistently employ enough nurses to meet resident needs — a failure that affects every aspect of care. Understaffing
Nursing and Physician Services — Failed to have a registered nurse on duty 8 hours a day and select a registered nurse as director of nurses on a full-time basis. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. Federal regulations require a registered nurse on duty at least 8 hours per day. Failure to meet this minimum standard is a direct violation of the most basic staffing requirements.
Nursing and Physician Services — Failed to post nurse staffing information every day. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected. Facilities are required to publicly post daily staffing levels so residents and families can see who is working. Failure to do so limits the ability of families to monitor staffing compliance.
Resident Rights — Failed to keep residents’ personal and medical records private and confidential. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected.
Resident Rights — Failed to honor the resident’s right to a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection May 21, 2024.)
Resident Rights — Failed to honor the resident’s right to a dignified existence, self-determination, and communication. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Resident Rights — Failed to reasonably accommodate the needs and preferences of each resident. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Resident Rights — Failed to honor the resident’s right to a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected.
Nutrition and Dietary — Failed to procure food from approved sources and store, prepare, distribute and serve food in accordance with professional standards. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected. A dietary deficiency affecting many residents — the broadest scope — indicates a systemic failure in food safety and nutritional standards across the entire facility. This same deficiency category was also cited in the 2019 survey with a Many residents scope. Malnutrition
The June 2019 survey cited nine deficiencies — nearly double the Tennessee state average of 4.7 for that period. Notably this survey included one Level 3 Actual Harm citation.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide care and assistance to perform activities of daily living. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection September 27, 2023.)
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders and resident preferences. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection September 27, 2023.)
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to ensure the nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents. Severity Level 3 — Actual Harm, Few residents affected.
A Level 3 Actual Harm citation means government surveyors determined that the facility’s failure caused real harm to one or more residents. This is a more serious finding than the Level 2 citations that make up most of this facility’s record. The deficiency — failure to maintain a safe environment and provide adequate supervision — means a resident was actually harmed as a result of inadequate accident prevention or supervision.
Quality of Life and Care — Failed to provide safe and appropriate respiratory care. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Infection Control — Failed to provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. Severity Level 2, Some residents affected. As noted above, this is the third survey cycle in which an infection control deficiency has been cited at this facility.
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to develop the complete care plan within 7 days of comprehensive assessment. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection September 27, 2023.)
Resident Assessment and Care Planning — Failed to develop and implement a complete care plan. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected.
Resident Rights — Failed to immediately notify the resident, doctor, and family of situations affecting the resident. Severity Level 2, Few residents affected. (Cited via complaint inspection September 27, 2023.)
Nutrition and Dietary — Failed to procure food from approved sources and store, prepare, distribute and serve food in accordance with professional standards. Severity Level 2, Many residents affected. As in 2022, this dietary deficiency affected many residents across the facility.
AHC Bethesda’s inspection record reveals several significant patterns that families should understand:
Three complaint investigations in less than three years is an above-average rate of complaint activity. Each investigation resulted in cited deficiencies — meaning surveyors found, following a complaint, that the facility had failed to meet federal standards. The May 2024 complaint investigation is particularly serious — it produced findings of failure to protect residents from abuse and failure to protect residents from financial exploitation. These are not technical regulatory failures. They are findings that residents at this facility were not adequately protected from harm at the hands of others.
The 21-deficiency 2022 survey represents a significant compliance failure by any measure. At more than four times the state average, the breadth of deficiencies cited — spanning staffing, infection control, resident rights, nutrition, care planning, and abuse protection — indicates that multiple departments and multiple aspects of resident care were found to be out of compliance simultaneously.
The infection control deficiency has been cited in all three standard survey cycles — 2019, 2022, and 2025 — as well as in the September 2023 complaint investigation. Four citation events over six years for the same category of failure establishes that this is not a problem AHC Bethesda has resolved.
The care planning deficiency similarly appears across all three standard surveys and the 2023 complaint investigation.
The Level 3 Actual Harm citation in 2019 — for failure to prevent accidents and provide adequate supervision — confirms that the facility’s compliance failures have caused documented harm to residents, not merely potential risk.
Families with loved ones currently at AHC Bethesda should be aware of these findings when monitoring care, asking questions of facility staff, and evaluating whether concerns they observe are consistent with this documented history.
If a family member suffered a serious injury or died while residing at AHC Bethesda in Cookeville, you may have legal options under Tennessee law. The Higgins Firm handles serious nursing home neglect and abuse cases throughout Tennessee including Putnam County and the Upper Cumberland region.
Tennessee’s statute of limitations for nursing home negligence cases is one year from the date of injury or discovery. For wrongful death cases, it is one year from the date of death. This deadline does not pause while families are waiting for answers from the facility or conducting their own investigation.
The initial consultation is free. We handle nursing home cases on a contingency fee basis — no fee unless we recover compensation for your family.
AHC Bethesda received 21 deficiencies in its March 2022 standard survey — more than four times the Tennessee state average of 4.7 for that period. The May 2025 survey cited 6 deficiencies, near the state average. The facility has also been subject to three complaint investigations between 2023 and 2026, each resulting in additional cited deficiencies.
The May 2024 complaint investigation cited three deficiencies including failure to protect residents from abuse and failure to protect residents from the wrongful use of their belongings or money. These findings mean government surveyors, following a complaint, determined that the facility failed to adequately protect residents from abuse and financial exploitation.
As of April 2026, AHC Bethesda has a 2-star below average rating across all four CMS rating categories — overall, health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. Current ratings are available at Medicare.gov Care Compare using CMS Provider ID 445427.
A Level 3 Actual Harm citation means government surveyors determined that a facility’s failure caused real harm to one or more residents — not just a risk of harm. AHC Bethesda received a Level 3 citation in its 2019 survey for failure to maintain a safe environment and provide adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Document what you observed — photographs of injuries, written notes with dates and staff names, copies of incident reports or communications from the facility. Seek medical attention immediately if your loved one shows signs of harm. Contact the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission to file a complaint. Contact The Higgins Firm for a free consultation — Tennessee’s one-year statute of limitations means acting quickly is essential.
No. The initial consultation is free. The Higgins Firm handles nursing home cases on a contingency fee basis — our fee is a percentage of any recovery we obtain for your family. Nothing is owed upfront, and nothing if we do not recover.
The Higgins Firm represents families in nursing home neglect and abuse cases throughout Tennessee. Inspection data on this page is sourced from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Care Compare database. CMS Provider ID 445427. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. | Last updated: May 2026
Dedicated legal advocates protecting your loved ones nationwide. When nursing homes break their promise of care, our experienced attorneys fight for the justice your family deserves.