Chatuge Regional Nursing Home
386 Belaire Drive, Hiawassee, GA 30546 · Towns County · 112 certified beds · avg 81 residents/day · certified since Oct 1, 2005
What health inspectors found (on-site government inspections — the most independent evidence available)
Health inspection rating: ★☆☆☆☆1/5 · CMS overall rating: 1/5
The health inspection star above is graded on a curve within each state — a set share of each state's facilities gets each star level — so a facility can have few citations and still rate 2–3 stars if others in its state did even better. The overall rating combines that inspection score with staffing and self-reported quality measures.
Most serious findings (actual harm or immediate jeopardy)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, facility-wide · Jun 8, 2024 · F-0835 · triggered by a complaint
The facility was not managed in a way that uses its money, staff, and resources effectively and efficiently to care for residents.
Why it matters: Poor administration often shows up as understaffing, supply shortages, and care problems across the whole facility.
Severity (L): A life-threatening or extremely dangerous situation existed throughout the facility. The single most serious citation CMS can issue.
Corrected: Jul 24, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, one-off · Jun 8, 2024 · F-0600 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not protect residents from abuse or neglect. This covers physical, mental, and sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect, by anyone — staff, other residents, or visitors.
Why it matters: Abuse and neglect cause direct physical and emotional harm and are among the most serious failures a nursing home can have.
Severity (J): Inspectors found a situation that put a resident's life or safety in immediate danger, affecting one or a few residents. The facility must fix it immediately — these citations often come with large fines.
Corrected: Jul 24, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, one-off · Jun 8, 2024 · F-0602 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not protect residents from misuse of their belongings or money — this is called misappropriation, and it includes theft or improper use of a resident's property or funds.
Why it matters: Residents can lose money, jewelry, or cherished possessions to theft or misuse.
Severity (J): Inspectors found a situation that put a resident's life or safety in immediate danger, affecting one or a few residents. The facility must fix it immediately — these citations often come with large fines.
Corrected: Jul 24, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, one-off · Jun 8, 2024 · F-0609 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not report suspected abuse, neglect, or theft to the proper authorities quickly enough, or did not report the results of its investigation.
Why it matters: When incidents aren't reported promptly, abusers may continue harming residents and outside authorities can't step in.
Severity (J): Inspectors found a situation that put a resident's life or safety in immediate danger, affecting one or a few residents. The facility must fix it immediately — these citations often come with large fines.
Corrected: Jul 24, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, one-off · Jun 8, 2024 · F-0610 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not respond appropriately to alleged violations, such as reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. Facilities must investigate every allegation and protect residents while they do.
Why it matters: When allegations aren't investigated, harm to residents can continue unchecked.
Severity (J): Inspectors found a situation that put a resident's life or safety in immediate danger, affecting one or a few residents. The facility must fix it immediately — these citations often come with large fines.
Corrected: Jul 24, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
All citations in the current public record (33)
CMS publishes roughly the last three inspection cycles plus recent complaint investigations. Older surveys drop out of the record as new ones are completed.
| Date | Severity | What the facility was cited for |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not allow residents to take their own medications when a clinical review showed they could do so safely. Residents have this right if their care team determines it's appropriate. |
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not make reasonable adjustments to fit each resident's individual needs and preferences — things like call buttons within reach, preferred wake-up times, or accessible room setups. |
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide required paperwork or notices about a resident's needs, their right to appeal a transfer or discharge, or the facility's bed-hold policy (how long a bed is saved during a hospital stay). |
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not develop or follow a complete care plan for each resident — the written roadmap covering all of a resident's needs, with measurable goals and timelines. |
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not keep residents' medications free from unnecessary drugs. Residents should only take medicines they truly need, at the right dose, for a clear reason. |
| Dec 4, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility's medication error rate was 5 percent or higher — meaning too many doses were given incorrectly, such as the wrong drug, dose, or time. |
| Jun 8, 2024 | ▲ L · Immediate jeopardy, facility-wide | The facility was not managed in a way that uses its money, staff, and resources effectively and efficiently to care for residents. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | ▲ J · Immediate jeopardy, one-off | The facility did not protect residents from abuse or neglect. This covers physical, mental, and sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect, by anyone — staff, other residents, or visitors. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | ▲ J · Immediate jeopardy, one-off | The facility did not protect residents from misuse of their belongings or money — this is called misappropriation, and it includes theft or improper use of a resident's property or funds. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | ▲ J · Immediate jeopardy, one-off | The facility did not report suspected abuse, neglect, or theft to the proper authorities quickly enough, or did not report the results of its investigation. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | ▲ J · Immediate jeopardy, one-off | The facility did not respond appropriately to alleged violations, such as reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. Facilities must investigate every allegation and protect residents while they do. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not honor residents' right to voice complaints without discrimination or retaliation, or did not have a working complaint process that resolves issues promptly. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility used bed rails without first trying safer alternatives, or without assessing the resident's safety risk, discussing the risks and benefits with the resident or family, getting consent, and installing the rails correctly. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not label drugs according to professional standards or did not store them in locked compartments, with controlled drugs (medications with a high risk of misuse) kept under a separate lock. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not serve meals and snacks at times that fit residents' needs, preferences, and requests, or did not offer nourishing alternatives for residents who want to eat outside scheduled meal times. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not regularly inspect bed frames, mattresses, and bed rails for safety, or the rails and mattresses were not attached safely to the frames. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not treat residents with dignity and respect, or did not honor their rights to make their own decisions and communicate freely. This is one of the most fundamental resident rights. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not give residents (and their representatives and the ombudsman, a state advocate for residents) proper advance notice before a transfer or discharge, including information about their right to appeal. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not enter each resident's assessment information into the required format and send it to the state within 7 days of completing the assessment, as the rules require. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not develop a resident's complete plan of care within 7 days of the full assessment, or the plan wasn't prepared, reviewed, and updated by a team of health professionals as required. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide treatment and care that follows the doctor's orders and matches the resident's own preferences and goals. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide safe and appropriate respiratory care — such as oxygen, breathing treatments, or care for residents on breathing equipment — for residents who needed it. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have a licensed pharmacist review each resident's complete medication regimen and medical chart every month, or did not follow its own rules for reporting medication problems. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not try to gradually reduce doses of mood- and mind-altering medications or use non-drug approaches first, as required, or used 'as needed' psychiatric drugs without proper limits. · from a complaint |
| Jun 8, 2024 | C · Minimal risk, facility-wide | The facility did not post its nurse staffing information every day. Nursing homes must publicly display how many nurses and aides are on duty each day. · from a complaint |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not report suspected abuse, neglect, or theft to the proper authorities quickly enough, or did not report the results of its investigation. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not respond appropriately to alleged violations, such as reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. Facilities must investigate every allegation and protect residents while they do. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not coordinate resident assessments with the state's pre-admission screening program for mental illness and intellectual disabilities, or failed to refer residents for the special services they need. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not develop or follow a complete care plan for each resident — the written roadmap covering all of a resident's needs, with measurable goals and timelines. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide the help residents need with basic daily activities — like bathing, dressing, eating, and using the bathroom — for residents who cannot do these things on their own. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide the care needed to maintain or improve residents' movement and flexibility — such as range-of-motion exercises — leading to avoidable decline. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide safe and appropriate respiratory care — such as oxygen, breathing treatments, or care for residents on breathing equipment — for residents who needed it. |
| Dec 15, 2022 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not label drugs according to professional standards or did not store them in locked compartments, with controlled drugs (medications with a high risk of misuse) kept under a separate lock. |
Inspection trend by year
Citations from standard inspections decreased between the last two inspection cycles (19 → 6).
| Year | Citations | Serious (G–L) | Worst severity that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8 | 0 | D |
| 2024 | 19 | 5 | L ▲ |
| 2025 | 6 | 0 | D |
Counts reflect the current CMS public record (~3 inspection cycles plus complaint investigations); years with no surveys show no row. Inspection frequency varies, so compare severity as well as counts.
Fines and enforcement (last 3 years)
1 fine totaling $64,214.
| Date | Type | Amount / length |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 8, 2024 | Fine | $64,214 |
Nurse staffing (from payroll records, adjusted for how much care residents need)
| Measure | This facility | Georgia avg | U.S. avg | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total nurse staffing (hours per resident per day) | 4.26 | 3.54 | 3.95 | top 11% in Georgia; top 30% in the U.S. |
| Registered Nurse hours | 0.88 | 0.50 | 0.69 | top 6% in Georgia; top 22% in the U.S. |
| Weekend total nurse staffing | 3.71 | 3.09 | 3.50 | top 12% in Georgia; top 33% in the U.S. |
| Weekend RN hours (not acuity-adjusted) | 0.28 | 0.35 | 0.48 | bottom 47% in Georgia; bottom 27% in the U.S. |
| Total nursing staff turnover (%) | 46.3 | 46.0 | 45.8 | bottom 48% in Georgia; bottom 46% in the U.S. |
| RN turnover (%) | 40.0 | 44.5 | 42.9 | top 39% in Georgia; top 46% in the U.S. |
Hours are per resident per day, case-mix adjusted by CMS so facilities caring for sicker residents can be compared fairly (same basis as the CMS staffing star). "Top X%" means better than most facilities: more staffing hours, or lower turnover. Raw (unadjusted) reported hours: total 3.78, RN 0.78, weekend 3.29. Staffing rating: 4/5.
Self-reported quality measures
Note: these ratings are based on data the facility reports about itself to CMS. They are not independently verified by inspectors, and can look better than inspection findings. Give more weight to the inspection results above.
Quality measures rating: 1/5 · long-stay residents: 1/5 · short-stay residents: 1/5
Who owns this facility
Non profit - Corporation
| Owner / manager | Type | Role | Stake | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bierschenk, Kevin | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 02/25/2019 |
| Bierschenk, Kevin | Individual | Trustee of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 02/25/2019 |
| Bierschenk, Kevin | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 02/25/2019 |
| Davenport, Rick | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/01/2019 |
| Gary, Thomas | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/01/2019 |
| Kephart, Michael | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/11/2016 |
| Kephart, Michael | Individual | Trustee of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/11/2016 |
| Kephart, Michael | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/11/2016 |
| Owenby, Greg | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 01/01/2019 |
| Paris, Dinah | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 05/18/2010 |
| Rowe, Steven | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 08/01/2015 |
| Stahlkuppe, Robert | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 02/21/2025 |
| Townsend, Nicholas | Individual | Corporate Director | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2016 |
| Townsend, Nicholas | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2016 |
| Townsend, Nicholas | Individual | Trustee of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2016 |
| Townsend, Nicholas | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2016 |
| Union County Hospital Authority | Organization | Trustee of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 11/01/1999 |
| Union County Hospital Authority | Organization | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 03/03/2025 |
Questions to ask on your visit
Generated from this facility's actual citation record — bring them to a tour and ask the administrator directly.
- "What were the findings behind this administration citation, and what has leadership changed since?"
- "Tell me about this abuse or neglect citation — what happened, and what specific changes did you make afterward?"
- "What safeguards do you have to protect residents' money and belongings, and what happens when something goes missing?"
- "When abuse or theft is suspected, who do you notify, how fast, and how do you inform the family?"
- "If someone reports suspected abuse or neglect here, what happens in the first 24 hours?"
- "If my family member is able to manage their own medications, would you allow it, and how is that decided?"
- "Can you give me examples of how you adjust daily routines and room setups to fit each resident's preferences?"
- "What written notices do we get before any transfer or discharge, and what is your bed-hold policy?"
- "What is your current ratio of nursing staff to residents on day, evening, and weekend shifts?"
- "Can I see the results and plan of correction from your most recent state inspection?"
Nearby facilities (within 20 miles)
| Facility | Distance | City | Overall | Inspection | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay County Health and Rehabilitation | 7.4 mi | Hayesville, NC | ★★☆☆☆ | 2/5 | |
| Union County Nursing Home | 12.7 mi | Blairsville, GA | ★★★★☆ | 4/5 | |
| Valley View Care and Rehabilitation | 17.9 mi | Andrews, NC | ★★☆☆☆ | 2/5 |
Compare this facility with the 3 closest →
Facility data as of CMS processing date 2026-08-01. CCN 115701.