Sanilac Medical Care Facility
137 North Elk Street, Sandusky, MI 48471 · Sanilac County · 104 certified beds · avg 76 residents/day · certified since Aug 15, 1968
What health inspectors found (on-site government inspections — the most independent evidence available)
Health inspection rating: ★★★☆☆3/5 · CMS overall rating: 3/5
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)
▲ Actual harm, one-off · Jul 1, 2024 · F-0686 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not provide proper care for pressure ulcers (bedsores) or did not do enough to prevent new ones from forming. Bedsores develop when residents stay in one position too long without help moving.
Why it matters: Bedsores are painful, can become deeply infected, and in serious cases can be life-threatening.
Severity (G): One or a few residents were actually harmed — physically or emotionally — though not put in immediate danger of serious injury or death.
Corrected: Jul 30, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
▲ Actual harm, one-off · Jul 1, 2024 · F-0689 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls.
Why it matters: This is one of the most common citations and directly relates to falls and injuries, which can be devastating for older adults.
Severity (G): One or a few residents were actually harmed — physically or emotionally — though not put in immediate danger of serious injury or death.
Corrected: Jul 30, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2, 2026 | 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 |
| Aug 21, 2025 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not get its food from approved, safe sources, or did not store, prepare, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not keep its building and grounds safe, functional, clean, and comfortable for residents, staff, and visitors. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not have enough nursing staff each day to meet every resident's needs, or did not have a licensed nurse in charge on each shift. Adequate staffing is one of the strongest predictors of good care. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, 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 |
| Aug 21, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not properly complete the required screening (called PASARR) that identifies whether a person entering a nursing home has a mental illness or intellectual disability and needs specialized services. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility provided care that did not meet professional standards of quality — the accepted standards that nurses and other clinicians are expected to follow. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | 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. |
| Aug 21, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide appropriate care related to bladder and bowel needs — including care for residents who use catheters and steps to prevent urinary tract infections. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | ▲ G · Actual harm, one-off | The facility did not provide proper care for pressure ulcers (bedsores) or did not do enough to prevent new ones from forming. Bedsores develop when residents stay in one position too long without help moving. · from a complaint |
| Jul 1, 2024 | ▲ G · Actual harm, one-off | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. · from a complaint |
| Jul 1, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility provided care that did not meet professional standards of quality — the accepted standards that nurses and other clinicians are expected to follow. · from a complaint |
| Jul 1, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not make sure residents were fully informed about their own health, care, and treatments in a way they could understand. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not honor residents' right to make their own choices about their daily lives, such as when to wake up, what to eat, or how to spend their time. |
| Jul 1, 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. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | 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. · from a complaint |
| Jul 1, 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. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide safe, appropriate care for residents who need dialysis — the treatment that filters the blood when kidneys fail. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | 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. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | 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. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have a working program to monitor how antibiotics are used. Tracking antibiotic use helps make sure these drugs are given only when needed and remain effective. |
| Jul 1, 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 |
| Jul 1, 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 28, 2023 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not get its food from approved, safe sources, or did not store, prepare, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not have a written plan describing how it runs its quality improvement program — the ongoing process of finding problems in care and fixing them. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | 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. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide appropriate care related to bladder and bowel needs — including care for residents who use catheters and steps to prevent urinary tract infections. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | 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. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | 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. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide proper care for pressure ulcers (bedsores) or did not do enough to prevent new ones from forming. Bedsores develop when residents stay in one position too long without help moving. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have a working program to monitor how antibiotics are used. Tracking antibiotic use helps make sure these drugs are given only when needed and remain effective. |
Inspection trend by year
Citations from standard inspections decreased between the last two inspection cycles (13 → 8).
| Year | Citations | Serious (G–L) | Worst severity that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 9 | 0 | F |
| 2024 | 15 | 2 | G ▲ |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | F |
| 2026 | 1 | 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)
0 fines totaling $0, plus 1 Medicare payment denial period.
| Date | Type | Amount / length |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2024 | Payment Denial | 13 days from Jul 31, 2024 |
Nurse staffing (from payroll records, adjusted for how much care residents need)
| Measure | This facility | Michigan avg | U.S. avg | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total nurse staffing (hours per resident per day) | 5.67 | 4.32 | 3.95 | top 10% in Michigan; top 6% in the U.S. |
| Registered Nurse hours | 0.58 | 0.84 | 0.69 | bottom 27% in Michigan; bottom 49% in the U.S. |
| Weekend total nurse staffing | 4.92 | 3.79 | 3.50 | top 11% in Michigan; top 7% in the U.S. |
| Weekend RN hours (not acuity-adjusted) | 0.33 | 0.49 | 0.48 | bottom 34% in Michigan; bottom 39% in the U.S. |
| Total nursing staff turnover (%) | 45.6 | 44.1 | 45.8 | bottom 46% in Michigan; bottom 48% in the U.S. |
| RN turnover (%) | 25.0 | 39.2 | 42.9 | top 23% in Michigan; top 20% 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 5.32, RN 0.54, weekend 4.62. 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: 3/5 · long-stay residents: 5/5 · short-stay residents: 2/5
Who owns this facility
Government - County
| Owner / manager | Type | Role | Stake | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanilac County | Organization | 5% or Greater Direct Ownership Interest | 100% | 08/01/1968 |
| Buttar, Nick | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 04/01/2024 |
| Buttar, Nick | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 02/02/2024 |
| Caringi, Heather | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 04/29/2022 |
| Caringi, Heather | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 04/29/2022 |
| Dunsmore-Ganley, Rachel | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 04/23/2024 |
| Dunsmore-Ganley, Rachel | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 04/23/2024 |
| Johnson, Tammi | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 10/01/2023 |
| Johnson, Tammi | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 10/01/2023 |
| Laba, Teri | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 10/26/1998 |
| Laba, Teri | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 10/26/1998 |
| Miller, Lindsey | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 05/31/2022 |
| Miller, Lindsey | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 05/31/2022 |
| Miller, Nicole | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 07/15/2024 |
| Miller, Nicole | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 07/15/2024 |
| Powell, Lisa | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | NO DATE PROVIDED |
| Sanilac County | Organization | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 08/01/1968 |
| Sherman, Cari | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 03/09/2025 |
| Sherman, Cari | Individual | ADP of the SNF | NOT APPLICABLE | 03/09/2025 |
Questions to ask on your visit
Generated from this facility's actual citation record — bring them to a tour and ask the administrator directly.
- "How do you prevent bedsores for residents who can't move themselves, and how often are at-risk residents repositioned?"
- "What is your falls rate, and what specific steps do you take to prevent falls and supervise residents at risk?"
- "How do you make sure each resident's care follows the doctor's orders, and what changed after this citation?"
- "What did your most recent kitchen inspection find, and can I see how food is stored and prepared?"
- "Can we tour the whole building today, including resident bathrooms and common areas, not just the lobby?"
- "What is your nurse and aide staffing ratio on each shift, including nights and weekends?"
- "Tell me about this abuse or neglect citation — what happened, and what specific changes did you make afterward?"
- "How do you screen new residents for mental health and disability-related needs, and how do you provide the specialized services they require?"
- "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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autumnwood of Deckerville | 8.5 mi | Deckerville, MI | ★★★☆☆ | 3/5 | |
| Marlette Community Hospital LTCU | 14.1 mi | Marlette, MI | ★★★★★ | 4/5 |
Compare this facility with the 2 closest →
Facility data as of CMS processing date 2026-08-01. CCN 235157.