Lakeland Senior AdvisorHow can I confirm a Polk County ALF is licensed?
Search AHCA's FloridaHealthFinder Facility/Provider Locator (quality.healthfinder.fl.gov) by facility name, by county (Polk) or by facility type; the profile lists the license number and status, licensed beds, specialty licenses, license dates, the licensee, any sanctions and a link to the inspection history.
Common status values are Licensed, Provisional and In Review (meaning a renewal or ownership change is being processed). Among Polk County's 68 ALFs and nursing homes, AHCA's statuses are 63 licensed, 2 in litigation, 2 provisional, 1 in review (retrieved November 6, 2026).
What else is on an assisted living facility's AHCA profile?
The profile also shows the date of the first license, the current license period, private and semi-private room counts, beds approved for ECC and for optional state supplementation, Medicaid services, nurse availability, languages spoken, fixed generator data and self-reported programs such as memory care.
Facilities report the program and amenity fields themselves; AHCA generates the license, sanction and inspection fields. Our facility pages say which is which.
How do I find out who owns a Florida ALF?
The AHCA profile names the licensee and any management company, and the sanctions list includes each change of ownership with its date, so a recent sale is visible.
A sale is not a warning in itself, but it is a reason to ask whether the administrator and nurses stayed and whether rates or policies changed. 12 Polk County ALFs show a change of ownership within the past three years on their AHCA profiles.
Can I check home health agencies and hospices the same way?
Yes: the locator covers home health agencies, hospices, adult day care centers, adult family care homes and nurse registries; filter by type and by Polk County, and check Medicare-certified agencies on CMS Care Compare too.
Companion and homemaker help may come from a nurse registry or a non-medical provider rather than a home health agency, so ask which license any agency operates under.
What if a home is caring for seniors without a license?
Running an assisted living facility without an AHCA license is prohibited by s. 429.07, so if you believe a house is housing and caring for unrelated adults without one, report it to AHCA's complaint line at 1-888-419-3456.
If you think someone in the home is being harmed, call the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873 first.
Side by side
| A FloridaHealthFinder profile shows | A FloridaHealthFinder profile does not show | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Number, status, dates and specialty categories | Monthly rates |
| Record | Sanctions, fines, ownership changes and inspections | Star ratings for assisted living |
| Programs | Self-reported services such as memory care | Independent verification of those programs |
Built from Chapters 408, 429 and 651, Florida Statutes; Florida Administrative Code chapters 59A-36 and 65A-2; AHCA, DCF, OIR and Department of Elder Affairs publications; and the CareScout and VA rate tables cited on this page. Our editorial standards explain how each figure is checked.
