La Canada Care Center — Tucson, AZ
This page sets out what the federal inspection record says about La Canada Care Center, a 128-bed nursing home at 7970 North La Canada Drive, Tucson, Arizona. Every figure below is copied from data the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes about nursing homes that take Medicare or Medicaid. We have not added our own judgment to it.
The record at a glance
| Federal ID (CCN) | 035189 |
| Legal business name | Tortolita Healthcare, Inc. |
| Listed chain or group | The Ensign Group |
| Address | 7970 North La Canada Drive, Tucson, AZ 85704 |
| Phone listed with CMS | (520) 797-1191 |
| Ownership type | For profit – Limited Liability company |
| Certified beds | 128 |
| Average residents per day | 97.5 |
| Certified since | November 19, 1988 |
| Overall CMS rating | 2 out of 5 |
| Health inspection rating | 1 out of 5 |
| Staffing rating | 2 out of 5 |
| Quality measures rating | 5 out of 5 |
| Total nursing staff turnover | 47.0% |
| Most recent standard inspection | April 24, 2026 |
CMS scores nursing homes from one to five stars. The health inspection rating is set relative to other nursing homes in the same state, so a one-star home is in the bottom fifth in Arizona, not the bottom fifth nationally. Staffing and quality measure ratings are scored against national thresholds.
Federal penalties
CMS’s penalty file lists 1 federal penalty against this facility: 1 fine totalling $8,278. A denial of payment means CMS stopped paying the home for residents admitted after a set date until the problem was fixed.
Inspectors have cited this home 9 times since January 2024
2 of those were at severity level G or above — what CMS calls actual harm. 4 came from complaints rather than routine inspections. Every one of them is listed below, with its date and what the rule required.
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Inspection citations since January 2024
CMS records 9 health citations at this facility from inspections between February 2, 2024 and April 24, 2026.
| Inspected | Tag | What the rule requires | Scope and severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 24, 2026 | F0732 | Post nurse staffing information every day. | F — Widespread, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date May 1, 2026 |
| Apr 24, 2026 | F0605 | Prevent the use of unnecessary psychotropic medications or use medications that may restrain a resident’s ability to function. | D — Isolated, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date May 1, 2026 |
| Apr 24, 2026 | F0658 | Ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality. | D — Isolated, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date May 1, 2026 |
| Mar 5, 2026 | F0584 | Honor the resident’s right to a safe, clean, comfortable and homelike environment, including but not limited to receiving treatment and supports for daily living safely. (complaint) | E — Pattern, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date Mar 30, 2026 |
| Mar 5, 2026 | F0600 | Protect each resident from all types of abuse such as physical, mental, sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect by anybody. (complaint) | D — Isolated, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date Mar 30, 2026 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | F0684 | Provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders, resident’s preferences and goals. (complaint) | G — Isolated, Actual harm | Correction date Feb 2, 2026 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | F0760 | Ensure that residents are free from significant medication errors. (complaint) | G — Isolated, Actual harm | Correction date Feb 6, 2026 |
| Feb 2, 2024 | F0695 | Provide safe and appropriate respiratory care for a resident when needed. | D — Isolated, Potential for more than minimal harm | Correction date Mar 22, 2024 |
The wording in the third column is CMS’s own plain-language summary of the federal rule that was cited, not a description of what happened. This table shows every one of the 2 citations at actual-harm level or above, plus the 6 most recent of the rest. The other 1 is in the CMS file linked below.
How to read scope and severity
Every citation gets a letter from A to L. The letter carries two things at once: how serious the problem was, and how many residents it reached.
| Severity | Isolated | Pattern | Widespread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety | J | K | L |
| Actual harm | G | H | I |
| No actual harm, potential for more than minimal harm | D | E | F |
| No actual harm, potential for minimal harm | A | B | C |
“Immediate jeopardy” is CMS’s term for a situation that has caused, or is likely to cause, serious injury, harm, impairment or death. It requires the home to act at once.
What this page does not tell you
- A citation is an inspector’s finding against a federal rule. It is not a court judgment, and the facility may be disputing it. Citations marked “under dispute” above are in CMS’s formal review process.
- Citation counts partly reflect how often a home was inspected and how many complaints were filed about it. A home with more citations has not automatically given worse care than one with fewer.
- Bigger homes have more residents, more staff and more inspections, so they tend to accumulate more citations.
- None of this says anything about the care any one resident received. A home with a clean record can still fail somebody, and a home with a bad record can be caring for your mother well.
- This is a snapshot. CMS updates these files monthly, and the figures here are from the file dated August 1, 2026.
Where this comes from
- Ratings, ownership, beds and penalties: CMS Provider Information dataset (4pq5-n9py), file dated August 1, 2026.
- Citations: CMS Health Deficiencies dataset (r5ix-sfxw), file dated August 1, 2026, filtered to inspections on or after January 1, 2024.
- This facility on the government’s own site: Medicare Care Compare.
- Retrieved August 29, 2026. Our method is set out in Editorial policy and How we count.
For the facility
If anything on this page is wrong, out of date or missing context, we will correct it. La Canada Care Center and anyone acting for it can reach the watchdog team through our corrections and right of reply page. We publish the response alongside the record.
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