Nursing Home Closures Rare in Florida
The recent closure of a Jacksonville nursing home highlights the fact that revoking a nursing home license is a rare occurrence in the state, according to research done by the Florida Times Union. Glenwood Nursing Center was the second nursing home in the state to have its license revoked in the past decade after years of poor reviews for the care it delivered, quality of life, and dignity.
106 residents called Glenwood home. The nursing home is fighting the state action.
The Agency for Health Care Administration has gone after other nursing homes for safety violations. In the past decade, 22 state nursing homes have received petitions to revoke their licenses, but in most cases, the state works with the home to improve conditions rather than close the doors, a situation where no one wins.
Three of the nursing homes that were petitioned, closed their doors on their own.
In Georgia, the past decade has seen six nursing homes close after they were terminated from the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. For many nursing homes, federal money is what keeps the doors open.
Unfortunately, there are not enough nursing homes around that accept Medicaid, which reimburses for services at a lower rate than other types of insurance or private pay.
Closing a nursing home also raises concerns about the trauma a resident can experience when he or she is transferred from a nursing home they have known as their home and whose residents become their family. Many do not survive the trauma of a transfer.
If you think a loved one is suffering nursing home abuse in Florida, call the Florida Department of Children and Families Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873 or the police if the situation merits immediate intervention.
Florida Statute 400, the Nursing Home Residents’; Bill of Rights establishes basic dignity and treatment of the elderly to include:
- Reasonable access to health and legal services
- To be transferred or discharged only for medical reasons
- To be free from mental and physical abuse, corporal punishment, seclusion, and physical and chemical restraints
- To be treated courteously, fairly, and with the fullest measure of dignity
- Privacy
- To receive adequate and appropriate health care
When nursing home profits are more important than compassion toward our elderly, the Jacksonville nursing home neglect attorneys at Farah & Farah will launch an investigation to determine who should be held accountable.
