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Florida Nursing Home Care Declines in Annual Report

Ulrich Joho via Flickr Creative Commons

Florida fell from 6th to 13th place in the latest state-by-state ranking and report card on the quality of nursing home care.  The report comes from the Texas-based non-profit nursing home resident advocacy group Families for Better Care, Inc.  The results indicate a trend of declining inspection ratings for nursing homes across the country. 

Survey data collected from the federal and state governments finds that fewer than 30% of nursing homes across the country were capable of achieving an “above average” inspection rating, which marks a 15% decline from the previous year’s report.

The advocacy group says nursing home staffing shortages appear to be the central issue with cases of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of residents occurring in one of five nursing homes in nearly half of states in the U.S.

We take a closer look at the report’s findings and recommendations with Florida’s former Long-Term Care Ombudsman and Families for Better Care Executive Director Brian Lee.