Best Senior Communities in Mississippi

Willow Creek Retirement Center is an 88-bed nursing home at 49 Willow Creek Lane, Byram, Hinds County, Mississippi, 2.5 miles from the city center. WCRL, LLC owns the facility. Joshau Clayton administers. The facility is CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid, and operates Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm CST.

Services listed: physician services, 24-hour nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, laundry, housekeeping, multi-denominational religious services, barber and beauty shop, and a secured dementia unit. Amenities: private and semi-private rooms and phone connections. Staffing data raises immediate concerns. Registered Nurse hours per resident per day: 31 minutes, 18% below Mississippi average.

This is below-average RN presence for clinical oversight and decision-making. Nurse Aide hours: 2 hours 10 minutes, 13% below state average, meaning below-average direct assistance for bathing, dressing, feeding, and mobility. Physical Therapist hours: 1 minute per day, 50% below Mississippi average, suggesting minimal therapy availability despite listing physical therapy as a service. Weekend RN coverage: 18 minutes, 18% below state average; markedly reduced clinical supervision on weekends.

Quality measures show material deficiencies in care outcomes. Long-stay hospitalizations: 3.74 per 1,000 resident days, 53% worse than Mississippi average of 2.44. This elevated rate suggests problems in preventive care, medication management, infection control, or resident monitoring. Long-stay emergency department visits: 3.09 per 1,000 days, 7% worse than state average.

Short-stay falls with major injury: 1.8%, 138% worse than Mississippi average of 0.8%. This is a severe deficiency; fall injury rates nearly three times the state norm indicate inadequate environmental safety measures, insufficient supervision, or failure to assess fall risk.

Conversely, short-stay discharge outcomes are above average: 70.4% of residents meet or exceed expected functional ability at discharge (state average 53.7%), and 57.1% successfully return to home or community (state average 50.6%). This suggests effective short-term rehabilitation for appropriate candidates, contrasting sharply with poor outcomes for long-stay residents.

Walk score 1 indicates extreme car-dependence; residents cannot meet basic needs on foot.

Willow Creek appears in CMS data without an assigned star rating, limiting transparency on inspection compliance history. The facility shows zero fines and no citation data in available comparison tables, but absence of data does not reflect positive compliance; CMS inspection records are not displayed in this profile. Families should request complete inspection records from CMS and Mississippi State Department of Health, including all deficiency findings, citations, complaint investigations, and corrective action plans.

Questions should address: RN staffing justification given below-average hours; protocols for weekend clinical coverage with minimal RN presence; fall prevention protocols and incident tracking given 138% worse-than-average major injury rate; medication management oversight; infection control measures and recent outbreak history; physical therapy availability versus listed services; infection rates and antibiotic-resistant pathogen status; administrator response to quality measure gaps; and corrective action completion status for any substantiated deficiencies. Request patient safety incident reports and mortality data.

Families evaluating Willow Creek should weigh elevated long-stay hospitalization and fall injury rates against documented short-stay rehabilitation success before placement.

Washington Care Center is a 60-bed nursing home at 1920 Lisa Drive Extended, Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi, at the city center. Properties, LLC owns the facility. Debra Johnson administers. The facility is CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid.

Services listed: skilled nursing care, rehabilitation therapy, memory support, and respite stays. Rehabilitation services include short-term rehab and respite care. The facility maintains 24-hour staffing.

Walk score 62 indicates moderate walkability.

The comparison table immediately signals serious regulatory concerns. Washington Care Center reports 4 fines: material enforcement actions indicating substantiated regulatory violations. The nature of these fines, their dates, the underlying violations, and facility corrective action responses are not displayed.

Staffing data are uniformly below state average. Total nursing hours: 4.21 per resident per day, below Mississippi average. RN hours: 9% below state average, indicating below-average clinical oversight and decision-making capacity. Overall staffing: 9% below state average, indicating below-average direct care assistance for residents.

These figures suggest constrained clinical resources compared to typical Mississippi nursing homes.

Occupancy at 90.9% is 10% above state average, indicating strong demand but potentially limited new-admission capacity and possible strain on staff and resources.

Financial data show scale: revenue $21.2M, payroll $11.7M (55.2% of revenue). The payroll percentage is notably high.

Memory support is listed.

Families evaluating Washington Care Center must request complete CMS inspection records, including all deficiency findings, citations, complaint investigations, and corrective action status. Direct inquiry should address: the 4 reported fines; justification for below-average staffing hours; memory care model, protocols, secured units, and staff dementia credentials; infection control measures and outbreak history; fall prevention protocols and incident tracking; medication management oversight; short-stay versus long-stay outcome comparison; incident reporting and tracking mechanisms; infection rates and antibiotic-resistant pathogen status; and definition and enrollment criteria for “Supplementary Care Options.” Request recent quality measure data, patient safety incidents, and mortality statistics.

Families evaluating Washington Care Center should weigh the 4 fines and below-average staffing against strong occupancy and documented service offerings before placement.

Tishomingo Manor is a 105-bed nursing home at 230 Kaki Avenue, Iuka, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, at city center. Elton G. Beebe Sr Irrv Childrens Tr owns the facility. Tina Stevens administers.

CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid. CMS CCN 255218. 2-star overall rating.

December 30, 2025 complaint investigation revealed substantiated deficiency (F0550, Actual Harm, Some Residents Affected) involving denial of dignified care for incontinent residents. The facility failed to provide adequate incontinence briefs during night shift, forcing staff to substitute bed sheets instead. Four of five residents sampled experienced this practice. Briefs are distributed once daily in morning (6–10 per resident per 24 hours) with no night-shift access to additional supply.

When exhausted, facility directs staff to “bridge” residents, placing absorbent pads and folded sheets instead of incontinence briefs. This is systemic: multiple staff confirmed the practice as routine protocol, with night-shift CNAs reporting it as “a big issue” and “major shortage.”

The Director of Nursing, when asked, stated residents have “plenty of briefs” and can access locked environmental room supplies. She simultaneously confirmed no briefs were available in that room. She practices “open air” protocol at night, declining to brief non-cognitive residents regardless of incontinence. She stated she had never asked residents about preferences.

Resident impacts are concrete and harmful. Resident #1 (severely cognitively impaired, always incontinent): observed partially naked with only a sheet covering genitals. Resident #2 (moderately cognitive impairment, indwelling catheter, always incontinent of bowel): reported running out of diapers, sheets substituted without asking, felt lack of agency. Resident #3 (cognitively intact, suprapubic catheter, always incontinent of bowel): called shortage “totally ridiculous,” describes staff scrambling to locate briefs, explicitly dislikes sheet substitute.

Resident #4 (cognitively intact, end-stage heart disease and anxiety disorder, always incontinent of bladder and bowel): restricts movement at night to avoid urination, reports severe anxiety about urinating on sheets, experiences “mental anguish,” has not escalated because she believes complaints would be futile. For a facility whose stated mission is dignity and respect, withholding appropriate incontinence supplies constitutes foundational care failure.

CMS overall rating: 2 stars, 21.9% below state average. Health Inspection: 2 stars, 29.3% below state average. Staffing: 5 stars above average yet care delivery is compromised. Inspection history shows 4 inspections in 3 years with 14 total citations (4.67 per inspection, 22% above state average).

Four serious citations, 10 moderate. Deficiency patterns: Abuse/Neglect, Quality of Life & Care, Resident Rights, Administration, Infection Control. Financial penalties: $76K in fines (93% higher than state average), 1 payment denial (20 days), 2 civil money penalties ($64K, $12K). Three penalties in three years.

Long-stay quality degradation is severe. Residents show functional decline (ADL increase 41% worse than state; walking decline 20% worse), elevated behavioral medication (antipsychotics 28% worse), high infection rates (UTI 66% worse), depressive symptoms (44% worse), and falls with major injury (177% worse in short-stay cohort). The December 30, 2025 deficiency demonstrates systemic failure to prioritize resident dignity and appropriate care basics. This deficiency is particularly concerning for long-stay residents unable to advocate for themselves.

Families evaluating Tishomingo Manor should understand that documented inability to supply incontinence briefs reflects both supply-chain failure and willingness to substitute degrading alternatives.

Tishomingo Community Living Center is a 73-bed skilled nursing facility at 1410 West Quitman Street in Iuka, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, administered by Kimberly Amerson and privately owned.

The critical issue dominating this facility’s record is a June 2023 resident death resulting from medication management failure. A newly admitted diabetic resident’s physician-ordered insulin dose was omitted from the medical record; no baseline diabetes care plan was prepared within 24 hours of admission. Five days later, the resident transferred to an emergency room with a blood sugar of 764 mg/dL and died of diabetic ketoacidosis. This Immediate Jeopardy finding prompted corrective action, but the incident resulted in a $180,000 civil penalty in June 2023 and shapes the facility’s regulatory standing.

Deficiency patterns persist. The June 2023 health inspection identified 16 deficiencies concentrated in care planning, medication management, and resident rights. August 2024 yielded 7 deficiencies. December 2025 brought 8 deficiencies on the health inspection and 5 more on a concurrent complaint investigation, with additional Immediate Jeopardy citations.

In three years, two health inspections and two complaint investigations produced 46 combined deficiencies. Citation severity runs high: 5 critical citations (Mississippi averages 1 per facility), 11 moderate citations. The facility cites at 8.0 per inspection versus the state benchmark of 3.83. Mississippi averaged 16.9 total citations and 3.83 per inspection statewide during this same period; Tishomingo doubled the per-inspection rate.

Staffing and quality measures underperform state standards across multiple dimensions. Total nursing care delivers 3 hours 48 minutes per resident per day against the state average of 4 hours 20 minutes, a 12% deficit. The staff-to-resident ratio is 1.26:1, or 26% worse than Mississippi’s 1.69:1 benchmark. Registered nurses provide 48 minutes per resident per day (26% above state average weekdays), but licensed practical nurses deliver 47 minutes per day (29% below state average) and certified nursing aides provide 2 hours 1 minute daily (19% below state average).

CMS ratings reflect this: 1 star overall, with Health Inspection 60.9% below state average, Staffing 64.7% below state average, Quality Measures 7.8% below state average. Falls with major injury among long-stay residents reach 5.9% (85% worse than the 3.2% state average) and among short-stay residents 4.8% (518% worse than 0.8% state average). Functional ability at discharge stands at 15.4% versus a state average of 53.7%.

The facility maintains 91.3% occupancy (above the 82.3% state average) and accepts Medicare (18.5% of residents), Medicaid (75.4%), and private pay (6.2%). It provides 24-hour staffing, rehabilitation services, respite care, and memory care. Amenities include private suites, WiFi, in-room televisions, outdoor patios, and a transportation van. Named programs include Life Connections, Connection Stories, and the 719 Project.

Families should ask about corrections for the December 2025 deficiencies, medication reconciliation protocols, baseline care-plan procedures at admission, and staff training verification in diabetes management.

Tallahatchie General Hospital Extended Care is a 98-bed skilled nursing facility at 201 South Market Street in Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, owned and administered by Jan Maddux.

Staffing presents mixed patterns relative to state benchmarks. Registered nurses provide 27 minutes per resident per day, falling 29% below the state average of 38 minutes. Licensed practical nurses deliver 1 hour 23 minutes per resident per day, a 26% advantage over the state average of 1 hour 6 minutes. Certified nursing aides contribute 2 hours 31 minutes daily, matching the state benchmark of 2 hours 29 minutes.

Weekend coverage reaches 3 hours 48 minutes per resident per day, or 8% above the state average. The staff-to-resident ratio is 1.49:1, running 12% worse than the Mississippi average of 1.69:1. The facility maintains 139 total staff (98 employees, 41 contractors) including 9 registered nurses, 44 licensed practical nurses, and 71 certified nursing aides, supplemented by speech language pathologists and mental health workers.

Compliance results show a clean recent record. Four health inspections yielded 12 citations, with the most recent October 2025 inspection identifying three moderate citations in infection control, quality of care, and resident rights, all marked corrected. December 2024 produced one pharmacy citation (corrected). Prior inspections accounted for 8 additional citations.

The facility has received no critical citations (100% better than the state average of 1 critical per facility), 2 serious citations (82% worse than state average of 1.1 serious), and 9 moderate citations (38% better than state average of 14.6 moderate). One minor citation also appears. Citation frequency averages 3.0 per inspection against the state benchmark of 3.83. A single civil penalty of $11,000 was imposed in August 2023, representing 71% lower penalties than the Mississippi average of $39,000.

No payment denials have been imposed.

Quality measures reflect capacity for clinical management alongside identified weaknesses. Functional decline scores of 13.9 for long-stay residents run 38% better than the state average of 22.3. High-risk clinical events score 8.5, or 31% better than the state average of 12.4. However, falls with major injury affect 4.1% of long-stay residents, which is 29% worse than the state average of 3.2%.

Pressure ulcers appear in 8.6% of high-risk long-stay residents, or 21% worse than the state average of 7.1%. Antipsychotic medication use reaches 37.6% of long-stay residents, significantly above the state average of 21.2%. Hospitalizations occur at 1.79 per 1,000 resident days (27% better than state average of 2.44), and emergency department visits at 1.59 per 1,000 resident days (45% better than state average of 2.88).

The facility serves 93 residents, 94.6% Medicaid and 5.4% private pay, and operates Emergency Services, Inpatient Rehabilitation, Outpatient Therapy, TGH Discount Pharmacy, The Horizon program, and the James C. Kennedy Wellness Center. Walk score of 50 indicates moderate walkability.

Families evaluating Tallahatchie should ask directly about medication management protocols, antipsychotic prescribing practices, fall prevention measures, and pressure ulcer assessment procedures before enrollment.

Starkville Manor Health Care and Rehabilitation is a 119-bed nursing home at 1001 Hospital Road, Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, at city center. Everett Mckibben owns the facility. LLC Beverly G. Taylor administers.

CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid. CMS CCN 255172. 1-star overall rating.

The 1-star CMS rating is the lowest possible and reflects critical deficiencies across all four rating domains. Health Inspection: 1 star, 64.7% below Mississippi average. Staffing: 1 star, 8.3% below state average. Quality Measures: 1 star, 53.9% below state average.

This lowest-tier rating directly reflects documented inspection failures, severely diminished staffing resources, and poor resident outcomes.

Inspection record is alarming. Five inspections in four years yielded 31 citations—85% above Mississippi average (16.9 citations). Citations per inspection average 6.2 versus state average of 3.83. Critical severity citations: 5 (400% worse than state average of 1).

Serious citations: 3 (173% worse than state average of 1.1). Deficiency patterns: Quality of Life & Care (8 deficiencies, 26%), Administration (5, 16%), Resident Rights (4, 13%), Pharmacy Services (3, 10%), Abuse/Neglect/Exploitation (1, 3%). Inspector findings describe wound care neglect with immediate jeopardy designation (February 2024); the highest severity level indicating residents were in imminent danger of death or serious harm. Additional complaint investigations found substantiated fund misappropriation (November 2023) and systemic staffing shortages (March 2023).

Most recent inspection (September 2025) identified deficiencies in resident dignity during meals, failure to implement care plans for splint use and hygiene, inadequate ADL assistance, and inaccurate staffing data reported to CMS.

Staffing is critically understaffed. Total nursing hours 3 hours 31 minutes per resident per day, 19% below state average and below the 3.5-hour national red-flag threshold. RN hours: 25 minutes (34% below state average, only 66% of state norm). LPN hours: 45 minutes (32% below state average).

Weekend RN hours: 15 minutes (32% below state average). The facility ranks 89th of 100 Mississippi nursing homes in nurse staffing. Payroll is 30.3% of revenu; well below the typical 55-65% for adequately staffed facilities, confirming systematic understaffing.

Financial strain is evident. Operating loss: -$449.9K (2023). Profit margin: -3.5%. Despite strong occupancy (93.7%, well above state average), the facility loses money, suggesting cost-cutting measures affecting care.

Revenue $13.0M against payroll of $3.9M indicates resources exist but are not allocated to adequate staffing.

Quality outcomes are mixed. Long-stay pressure ulcer rates, UTI rates, and weight loss rates are better than state average, but ED visits are 23% worse, falls with major injury are 12% worse, and antipsychotic use is 28% worse. Short-stay outcomes are substantially degraded: falls with major injury 1.9% (149% worse than state), discharge functional ability 17.1% (68% worse), successful return to home 42.9% (15% worse).

Families evaluating Starkville Manor should understand that the 1-star rating, immediate jeopardy wound care findings, substantiated fund misappropriation, critical staffing shortages, and deteriorating short-stay rehabilitation outcomes collectively present substantial risk. The facility’s pattern of recurring compliance failures despite corrective efforts demonstrates systemic dysfunction.

Families should ask about the February 2024 immediate jeopardy finding, corrections, verification of staffing adequacy, and protocols preventing fund misappropriation. Tour and verify directly.

Pine Forest Health and Rehabilitation is a 120-bed skilled nursing facility at 1116 Forest Avenue, Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, operated by William Orand Jr. as a privately owned facility. The nursing home offers memory care and rehabilitation services with individualized care plans, though nursing hours of 2 hours 41 minutes per resident per day fall below standard benchmarks for facilities of comparable size and acuity. Occupancy stands at 73 percent, lower than Mississippi’s state average of 82.3 percent.

The facility does not accept Medicare or Medicaid, serving only private-pay residents.

Pine Forest’s regulatory record has deteriorated sharply in 2025. A December 9, 2025 complaint investigation substantiated an actual-harm deficiency (F 0689) stemming from a preventable safety failure on November 3, 2025. While loading a wheelchair-dependent resident onto the facility van’s liftgate for transport to dialysis, certified nursing aide #3 failed to lock both wheels of the wheelchair. As the platform was elevated, the wheelchair rolled backward off the lift and the resident fell onto the concrete driveway below.

The resident sustained a fractured right scapula and multiple rib fractures across ribs 3 through 8, requiring hospitalization. The facility’s Van Operation Standard policy explicitly mandates locking wheelchair brakes before lift operation; the aide’s failure to follow this basic procedure violated established protocol. The aide was terminated following the incident.

Two months earlier, on September 4, 2025, a separate complaint investigation cited the facility for two minimal-harm deficiencies related to activity engagement. Deficiency F 0656 documented that the facility failed to implement care plans for two of two sampled residents regarding structured activities; deficiency F 0679 found the facility failed to provide activities designed to meet residents’ physical and mental needs. State surveyors observed both residents sitting inactive in the dayroom for hours without access to planned activities, including during times when facility-wide activities were occurring. The Activities Director acknowledged the oversight, while the Director of Nursing conceded a lack of staff follow-through on activity interventions outlined in residents’ care plans.

Mississippi’s Department of Health oversees licensing.

Families should ask about safety and supervision practices following the November 2025 fall incident, corrective measures taken to ensure wheelchair-transport procedures are followed.

Perry County Nursing Center is a 60-bed nursing home in Richton, Perry County, Mississippi. Dorothy Duckworth administers. The facility is CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid. Staffing disclosure is incomplete.

RN hours: 23 minutes per day (39% below Mississippi average of 38 minutes), substantially below state norm for clinical oversight. LPN hours: 1 hour 9 minutes per day (5% above state average, 1 hour 6 minutes), slightly above average for routine care. Nurse Aide: 2 hours 19 minutes (7% below state average). Weekend RN hours: 12 minutes (45% below state average of 22 minutes), materially reduced clinical presence on weekends.

Total estimated nursing hours approximately 3 hours 51 minutes, 11% below state average. Physical therapy: 1 minute per day (50% below state average).

Quality measures show mixed outcomes. Long-stay hospitalizations: 2.51 per 1,000 days (in line with state average); ED visits: 2.09 per 1,000 days (27% better than state). Short-stay re-hospitalization: 30.5% (9% worse than state average); ED visits: 15.9% (in line with state); falls with major injury: 0.0% (100% better than state); discharge functional ability: 63.3% (18% better than state). Short-stay falls and discharge outcomes are above average; short-stay re-hospitalization is slightly below average.

The facility does not provide resident census, revenue, payroll, or profit information. Occupancy is stated as “in line with Mississippi average” (approximately 82.3%), but exact percentage is not given. Facilities operating sustainably typically disclose financial data; absence of disclosure raises questions about financial stability.

Services listed: Rehabilitation, Short-term Rehab, Healthcare.

Walk score 45 indicates moderate walkability.

The facility does not disclose: exact address, ownership entity, operator name, occupancy rate, CMS ratings in any category, inspection history, financial data, amenities, operating hours, or detailed care protocols. RN staffing is 39% below state average, with weekend RN hours 45% below average. Families should request direct disclosure of complete street address; ownership and operator information; current occupancy rate and resident census; CMS overall, health inspection, staffing, and quality ratings; complete inspection records; financial statements; detailed staffing model and daily protocols; amenity list and activity schedule; and facility operating hours.

Families evaluating Perry County Nursing Center face significant transparency gaps; without transparent disclosure, families cannot adequately assess quality or suitability for placement.

Ocean Springs Health and Rehabilitation Center is a 115-bed nursing home at 1199 Ocean Springs Road, Ocean Springs, Jackson County, Mississippi. Michael Albert owns the facility. LLC James T. Williams administers.

CMS-certified, accepts Medicare and Medicaid. CMS CCN 255142. Privately-owned. 1-star overall rating.

The 1-star rating reflects severe structural deficiencies despite paradoxical quality measure excellence. Health Inspection: 2 stars, 29.3% below state average. Staffing: 1 star, 69.4% below state average. Quality Measures: 5 stars, 38.2% above state average.

This contradiction demands explanation: facilities with 1-star staffing and 2-star health inspections do not typically achieve 5-star quality outcomes.

Staffing is critically depleted. Total nursing hours: 1 hour 19 minutes per resident per day; 70% below state average (4 hours 20 minutes) and far below the 3.5-hour national red-flag threshold. This represents approximately one-third of state norms and one-fifth of adequately staffed facilities. Weekend nursing: 1 hour 1 minute (71% below state average).

Staff-to-resident ratio: 1.23:1 (27% worse than state average). RN count 10, LPN count 22, CNA count 54 across 115 beds, indicating single-digit RN coverage for an entire large facility. Payroll 39% of revenue is low for adequately staffed nursing homes (typical 55-65%), confirming systematic understaffing.

Inspection record is troubling. Five inspections in four years yielded 29 citations (71% above state average of 16.9), 5.8 per inspection (51% above state average). Two critical citations (100% worse than state). Deficiency themes: Resident Rights (7), Quality of Life & Care (7), Administration (4), Abuse/Neglect (3), Infection Control (2).

September 2025 inspection identified dignity violations, inadequate care assistance, privacy failures, food safety breaches, and infection control deficiencies. Complaint investigations substantiated abuse prevention failures, emergency response gaps, and supervision inadequacies, including a resident elopement with immediate jeopardy designation.

Quality measures show exceptional long-stay outcomes: Pressure ulcers 87% below state average, UTI rates 87% better, functional decline 25% better. Short-stay outcomes mixed: vaccine rates above average, but antipsychotic increase 27% worse than state. Depressive symptoms 314% worse than state average.

The extreme contradiction between 1-star staffing and 5-star quality outcomes is difficult to reconcile. Either outcome reporting is inflated, or exceptional care management is somehow occurring despite severely inadequate staffing. Both scenarios warrant scrutiny.

Financial metrics show profitability: $725.3K profit (5.7% margin), occupancy 85.8% (above state average), 4 penalties in 3 years ($38K total). Occupancy has recovered from 72% (2022) to 85.8%, suggesting increased census despite compliance challenges.

Families evaluating Ocean Springs should understand that 1-star staffing with 1 hour 19 minutes per resident per day and 2-star health inspection performance directly contradicts 5-star quality outcomes. The contradiction itself raises questions about data reliability and care consistency.

Direct inquiry should address: staffing model justification for 1 hour 19 minutes nursing hours; care protocols sustaining quality outcomes despite minimal RN presence; audit processes validating quality measure reporting; details of September 2025 inspection findings and elopement incident; corrective action status; explanation of depressive symptoms 314% worse than state; and specific metrics supporting 5-star quality rating.

Families should request detailed explanation of how quality outcomes are being achieved with 70% below-average nursing hours. Tour and independently verify.