5 Central Florida nursing homes flagged by federal lawmakers

ORLANDO, Fla. — Five Central Florida nursing homes are among more than 400 recently flagged by federal lawmakers for persistent problems with care.

Investigative reporter Karla Ray has been exposing questions of neglect at Central Florida nursing homes for years, scouring hundreds of pages of inspection reports to warn you about problems at those facilities.  She has investigated one of the properties on the list before.

That location, Consulate of Melbourne, is on a smaller list published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of about 80 nursing homes designated as Special Focus Facilities.

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Senate leadership says about 400 other facilities should be getting that same level of scrutiny, and they have released the larger list to help warn the public.  Click here to read the full list.

Avante at Ormond Beach was highlighted in the federal report.

An inspection found staff failed to clean and disinfect glucometers between blood tests of several residents, putting them at risk of infection.

The report noted the issues have since been addressed, but it recommended the facility for SFF status, despite noting, as of last week, it had five-star staffing and quality ratings.

That is one of two Avante properties on the list.  The other is in Orlando.

Although the most recent inspection launched after a complaint showed no deficiencies, the Agency for Healthcare Administration shows the facility has been on a watch list since 2017.

Two other nursing homes in the area are on the same watch list.

Huntington Place in Rockledge and Ocean View Nursing and Rehab Center in New Smyrna Beach were put on the list for issues related to patients' rights to "adequate and appropriate health care and protective and support services."

An administrator from Huntington Place told 9 Investigates the facility supports transparency of any kind, and that it wants consumers to know how to search for ratings.

Click here and here to search inspection reports and ratings.

Ocean View Nursing and Rehab provided 9 Investigates with the following statement:

"The care and well-being of our residents is always our highest priority. This list does not reflect our center's plans of correction or the continued training and education of our staff to improve care delivery and the communications between our residents and families. This issue was an isolated issue regarding one nurse that was immediately resolved and all staff were retrained to ensure the proper protocols are being followed.  Ocean View strives for high-quality care and is constantly focusing on initiatives to enhance the care we deliver.   Our quality measures continue to improve from 1 star to 3 star with some of our quality initiatives being, but not limited to, reducing anti-psychotropic medications and reducing falls."

Cox Media Group