Nursing homes in Polk County

What does a nursing home provide?

Twenty-four-hour nursing, rehabilitation therapy and help with every daily activity, under an AHCA nursing home license and, for most homes, Medicare and Medicaid certification.

Polk County has 25 AHCA-licensed nursing homes with 3,178 beds; CMS publishes an overall rating for 24 of them, and 6 hold four or five stars (Care Compare data as of October 1, 2026).

How are nursing homes rated?

CMS rates certified nursing homes from one to five stars overall and for health inspections, staffing and quality measures on Care Compare, based on inspections Florida surveyors perform for CMS.

Our Polk County pages show CMS's ratings exactly as published, with staffing hours and turnover next to the county median.

Who pays for a nursing home?

Medicare pays up to 100 days of skilled care after a qualifying hospital stay, Florida Medicaid pays for long stays for eligible residents, and the rest is private pay at Florida medians of about $340 a day for a semi-private room.

See Medicaid long-term care.

How should we compare Polk County nursing homes?

Compare CMS's staffing rating and reported nurse hours per resident per day, staff turnover, the deficiency count at the latest inspection and any fines, then visit around a shift change.

Each Polk County nursing home page sets those figures beside the county median.

Are any Polk County nursing homes inside life plan communities?

CMS flags certified nursing homes located in continuing care retirement communities; in Polk County that means the health centers tied to Lakeland's two OIR-listed campuses, which often give their own residents priority.

See the life plan community profiles for the licensed units on each campus.

How does short-term rehab differ from long-term nursing home care?

Short-term rehab follows a hospital stay and aims to send the patient home, usually paid by Medicare for up to 100 days while skilled care is needed; long-term care is for people who need nursing indefinitely, paid privately or by Medicaid once the resident qualifies.

Many buildings do both. CMS publishes separate short-stay and long-stay quality ratings for each home, shown on our facility pages, so check the one that matches your parent's stay.

Where in Polk County is nursing homes licensed?

AHCA's records place Polk County's nursing homes licenses in these cities; agencies have no bed count.