Investigation Reveals Miami Area Nursing Homes Committed Abuse, Paid Thousands In Federal Fines
Analysis by a South Florida based new agency recently conducted a review of hundreds of Miami area nursing homes, focusing on reports of elder abuse and neglect, federal fines, and Medicare ratings. According to FloridaBulldog.org, a search of Medicare.gov’s nursing home grades revealed 10 nursing homes in the Miami area received the department’s lowest possible rating for nursing home care.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) rating schedule, which Medicare.gov uses to rate nursing homes, facilities are rated on a scale of one to five-stars. Five-stars is the highest and one-star is the lowest. The ratings are as follows:
- 5-star rating means that a facility ranks “much above average.”
- 4-star rating means a facility ranks “above average.”
- 3-star rating means a facility ranks “about average.”
- 2-star rating means a facility ranks “below average.”
- 1-star rating means a facility ranks “much below average.”
The ratings are based on three criteria: health inspections, staffing, and quality measures (QM). The health inspection rating contains information from the last 3 years of onsite inspections, including both standard surveys and any complaint surveys. The staffing rating has information about the number of hours of care provided on average to each resident each day by nursing staff. Finally, the QM rating has information on 11 different physical and clinical measures for nursing home residents.
One-star Miami nursing homes
The article reported, among other serious issues, the one-star nursing homes in the Miami area were guilty of failing to provide showers to residents with incontinence issues, a lack of housekeeping services resulting in unsanitary conditions, and failing to follow up on resident life care plans.
The list of one-star nursing homes named in the story are:
- Coral Reef Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, south Miami-Dade
- Coral Bay Health Care and Rehabilitation, West Palm Beach
- Fair Havens Center, Miami Springs
- Floridean Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Miami
- Franco Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, Miami Shores
- Golden Glades Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Miami
- Heartland Healthcare Center Kendall, south Miami-Dade
- Hillcrest Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Hollywood
- The Nursing Center at Mercy, Miami
- South Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, South Dixie Highway
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal fines
In addition to reports of deplorable conditions, elder care abuse and neglect, injuries, and medication errors, the nursing homes listed in the story were subject to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the federal government. Between 2013-2015, South Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center paid fines totaling $177,873 and Golden Glades Nursing and Rehabilitation Center paid fines of $138,841.
Orlando nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers
The lawyers of The Pendas Law Firm take allegations of nursing home abuse and neglect very serious and help victims and their families prosecute these offenses to the fullest extend our court system affords them. If your beloved family member was abused, injured, or otherwise mistreated by nursing home staff, contact our office for a consultation about your legal rights. We represent clients in the Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Miami area.