Highlands Lake Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 1988-09-29. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing care (typically up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay). Medicaid covers long-term care for residents who meet financial eligibility requirements. Contact the facility at (863) 646-8699 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Highlands Lake Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 2 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (2★), Staffing (3★), and Quality of Resident Care (4★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 68.6/100, placing it #8906 of 14703 facilities nationally and #554 of 694 in Florida. Star ratings are a useful starting point, but the composite score and individual sub-ratings give a more complete picture for families comparing facilities.

Each resident at Highlands Lake Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 17 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 38 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 38 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 1 minute. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 3 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 51.4%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

The facility has received 4 fine(s) over the 5-year period, totaling $63,207. 17 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 0 fine(s) totaling $0, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 0. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 85.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Highlands Lake Center ranks 8906th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 68.6/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within FL, it ranks 554th out of 694 nursing homes. In Lakeland, it ranks 9th out of 12 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 2nd of 2. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #11,220 nationally and RN hours rank #6,186 nationally (#345 in FL). Our composite quality score of 68.6/100 weighs health inspections, quality of resident care, staffing hours, compliance record, and five-year performance trends — giving a more complete picture than CMS star ratings alone, which can place hundreds of facilities in the same 5-star bucket. To browse and compare all nursing homes in Lakeland, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/florida/lakeland/