Medicare website will now mark nursing homes cited for abuse -- and some are in Tampa Bay
TAMPA, Fla. - Officials have made finding a nursing home through the Medicare website easier for loved ones by singling out the facilities where a patient was harmed due to neglect, exploitation, or was physically, mentally or sexually abused.
In Florida, the federal government has singled-out more than two dozen nursing homes for failing to protect residents from abuse, neglect or exploitation – and eight of them are in the Tampa Bay area.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service launched a website called, “Nursing Home Compare.” On the home page, consumers have the option to search through a list, or look at a map of nursing homes. The site displays a consumer alert icon next to nursing homes that have been cited.
LINK: Find the list of nursing homes on the Medicare.gov website
Those icons will remain there, for at least a year – even if the incident only happened once, or the situation has been resolved.
It marked 25 facilities in Florida with severe citations of abuse, stemming from violations over the past year. The following facilities are located in the Bay Area:
Life Care Center
7400 Trouble Creek Road, New Port Richey
Medicare.gov Profile
Bay Pointe Nursing Pavilion
4201 31st Street South, St. Petersburg
Medicare.gov Profile
Excel Care Center
2811 Campus Hill Drive, Tampa
Medicare.gov Profile
Valencia Hills Health and Rehabilitation Center
1350 Sleepy Hill Drive, Lakeland
Medicare.gov Profile
Oak Haven Rehab and Nursing Center
919 Old Winter Haven Road, Auburndale
Medicare.gov Profile
Westminster Communities of Bradenton Westminster
1700 21st Avenue West, Bradenton
Medicare.gov Profile
Sarasota Point Rehabilitation Center
2600 Courtland Street, Sarasota
Medicare.gov Profile
Bay Breeze Health and Rehabilitation Center
1026 Albee Farm Road, Venice
Medicare.gov Profile
The site also provides star-ratings in four categories: health inspections, staffing, quality measures and overall quality.
“The Trump Administration and CMS are committed to ensuring that nursing home residents are safe from abuse and neglect," Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. "Through the 'transparency' pillar of our five-part strategy to ensure safety and quality in nursing homes, we are giving residents and families the ability to make informed choices."