Fort Myers Senior AdvisorWho licenses and inspects nursing homes in Lee County?
AHCA licenses Florida nursing homes under Part II of Chapter 400, Florida Statutes, and rule chapter 59A-4, and its surveyors also inspect certified homes on behalf of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which sets the participation rules for any home that takes Medicare or Medicaid.
AHCA licenses 18 nursing homes in Lee County with 2,106 beds; CMS rates 17 of them, and 6 hold four or five stars overall (Care Compare data as of October 1, 2026).
What is Florida's nursing home staffing minimum?
Section 400.23 requires a weekly average of at least 3.6 hours of direct care per resident per day, including at least 2.0 hours from certified nursing assistants and 1.0 hour from licensed nurses each day, with set minimum numbers of staff on every shift.
The averages are calculated over the week, so a single short-staffed weekend may still fall inside the rule. CMS's Care Compare publishes each home's reported nurse hours from payroll data, which our nursing home pages compare with the Lee County median.
How are CMS nursing home star ratings calculated?
CMS gives each certified home one to five stars on three domains, health inspections, staffing and quality measures, and combines them into an overall rating that starts from the inspection score and is adjusted up or down by staffing and quality.
The inspection domain weighs the three most recent standard surveys plus complaint findings, with the most recent counting most. Five stars is not a guarantee, and one star does not mean every unit is unsafe; read the staffing hours and recent deficiencies together.
What is a CMS Special Focus Facility?
A Special Focus Facility is a nursing home CMS has singled out for a persistent record of serious inspection problems; it is inspected about twice as often and must improve or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid certification.
CMS also marks homes cited for abuse with an icon on Care Compare. Our nursing home pages show either flag when CMS's data includes it.
Which Florida nursing home rights matter most to families?
The nursing home bill of rights in s. 400.022 covers dignity, privacy, visits, control of personal funds, participation in care planning, freedom from restraints used for convenience and protection against improper transfer or discharge.
The family council and resident council have a legal role in Florida homes. Joining the family council is one of the most effective ways to stay informed about staffing changes.
The short version
| A CMS star rating is | A CMS star rating is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Federal inspection, payroll and claims data | Family reviews or our opinion |
| Scope | Medicare/Medicaid-certified nursing homes | A rating for assisted living |
| Use | A starting point for comparing homes | A substitute for a visit at a shift change |
Built from Chapters 400, 408, 429 and 651 of the Florida Statutes, Fla. Admin. Code chapters 59A-4, 59A-36 and 65A-2, and AHCA, DCF, OIR, Elder Affairs, CMS, VA and CareScout publications cited on the page; see our editorial standards.
