In this research guide you will learn how to get a COMPLETE, non-commercial, Statewide list of Assisted Living & Senior Living Facilities Provided by the State of Florida.
This is one of my favorite research guides, since, in reality, the State of Florida has made it incredibly easy for us with all of the great information, resources and facility databases they offer to the public.
Instead of researching assisted living or other long-term care options in Florida through the usual ad-laden, commercial websites, every senior and family has, at their disposal, an excellent array of research tools and facility information easily accessible and available – if you know where to look.
In This Florida Research Guide You Will Learn
- How to find Assisted Living & Senior Care anywhere in Florida using State resources and data
- How to find facilities that accept Medicaid or the Assisted Living Waiver(s)
- How to research and view Facility Inspections Reports and Surveys
- How to view Rules and Regulations for Assisted Living in Florida
How To Find Assisted / Senior Living Options Statewide in Florida
First and foremost, I want to share with you what I think is the very best way to find assisted living, adult day care, nursing homes, residential care, hospice, skilled nursing, and many more categories of care in Florida.
You will need to visit the State-managed FloridaHealthFinder site, which provides an extremely easy-to-use search tool/database for finding care anywhere in Florida.
The search page looks like this:
Florida’s Safest Facilities
Easily enough, simply select the Facility/Provider Type, such as Assisted Living, and then, you can simply enter the City name, or the Zip code of the area that you’d like to find care in, and from there, hit the Search button.
You’ll get an immediate list of all licensed care options in that area. The initial list will look something like this:
You’ll notice that the list is alphabetical, and you can also export the data into a spreadsheet, or print it out.
The initial view is very useful to scan, as it offers a quick glimpse of the facility’s Licensed Beds/Capacity, and the facility’s direct contact number. The latter is something that is purposefully omitted by the many commercial senior care websites out there.
Selecting a Facility
Once you select a facility from the list, a wealth of great data about the facility will be displayed for you.
Data includes:
- Facility Street/Mailing Address
- Facility Phone Number
- Administrator’s name
- License Number
- Profit Status (for profit, or not-for-profit)
- Licensed Beds
- Bed Types
- Languages Spoken
- Bed Hold Policy
- Activities (such as Arts and Crafts, Exercise Classes, Games etc.)
How to find facilities in Florida that accept Medicaid or the Assisted Living Waiver(s)
You’ll notice, down in the section titled “Services/Characteristics” that you’ll see some very useful information about the facility. Included in the list is “Payment Forms Accepted” where you’ll see whether the facility accepts:
- Medicaid
- Workers Compensation
- VA
- HMO
- Assisted Living Waiver(s)
and more.
This feature is amazing to have since most other states provide no way to easily look up facilities that accept Medicaid, or other types of insurances or Waiver programs.
How to research and view Facility Inspections Reports and Surveys
Within the facility details outlined above, there are a number of links to inspections reports, inspections details, and there is even a section for legal actions and fines imposed.
Selecting the Inspections Reports link from the details/data section for each facility, you’ll be directed to a page that lists all of the recent surveys, inspections and complaints investigations.
The inspections reports page will look like this:
Whereas, you can select a complaint or inspection report to view the details of the inspection/visit. The report will look something like this:
These reports are great information for families to have, as they give factual insights into each facility, and how facilities are managed. You may use the information to come up with targeted questions to ask the facility staff and administrators to see how they addressed any issues that have come up in the facility’s history.
How to view Rules and Regulations for Assisted Living in Florida
There are a few places you can go to view Florida’s Regulations for Assisted Living and Residential Care Homes.
First, I would like to direct you to the Florida Department of State website, and their Administrative Code/Administrative Register section.
The page you’ll need to go to is here:
https://www.flrules.org/gateway/RuleNo.asp?title=ASSISTED%20LIVING%20FACILITIES&ID=58A-5.0131
Here you’ll find a dozen or so documents (in Word format) that detail many of the Rules and Administrative Codes for Assisted Living in the State of Florida.
There are sections for:
- Definitions
- Licensing and Change of Ownership
- License Renewal
- Inspections Responsibilities
- Medication Practices
- Staffing Standards
- Food Services Standards
- Alzheimers’ Disease
& more.
Another great place to visit to learn more about Rules and Operating Standards for Assisted Living in Florida is the Florida Senate site, where the list the Florida Statutes for Assisted Living.
The site/page is here: https://flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2016/Chapter429/PART_I/
Again, you’ll see items like definitions, licensure, violations and administrative fines, and many more.
Very importantly, in this section you will find a Resident Bill of Rights, that outlines the rights that by law are to be afforded to every assisted living resident in the State of Florida.
Here is a sample of what the Resident Bill of Rights (429.28) looks like:
You may also wish to visit the ACHA (Agency for Health Care Administration) site, which offers a dedicated section for Assisted Living, including a definition, numerous .pdf lists and documents relevant to Statutes, Rules, Applications, Licensure, and more.
http://www.ahca.myflorida.com/MCHQ/Health_Facility_Regulation/Assisted_Living/alf.shtml
Additional Resources
Violations descriptions and Definitions
Florida Assisted Living Consumer Guide
Find Medicaid Assisted Living in Jacksonville
Florida Residents:
Pingback: Assisted Living Facilities in Jacksonville, FL that Accept Medicaid