Guide

Warning signs in the official record

This guide is about what the record shows, not about what happens behind any one door. Everything below is read from the official Florida inspection data. It describes patterns in the record; it does not speculate about care.

Class 1 and Class 2 deficiencies

Deficiencies are recorded in four severity classes. Class 1 is the most severe and Class 2 the next. A single Class 3 or Class 4 finding is common across the field. A Class 1 or Class 2 finding is not: statewide, a minority of scored facilities carry one. When the record shows a Class 1 or Class 2 deficiency, it is worth reading what the finding was and whether it recurs.

Repeat findings across inspections

One deficiency is a point in time. The same class of deficiency appearing across multiple inspection cycles is a pattern. The pattern is what the record captures that a single visit cannot.

Sanctions and fines

A sanction is a formal action the state took against a facility; a fine is a monetary penalty. These are heavier signals than a routine deficiency, because they mean the state moved beyond citing an issue to penalizing it. The record states when they occurred.

Complaints on the record

Complaints are reports the state received and recorded. A cluster of complaints, especially alongside deficiencies in the same period, is a stronger signal than any one complaint on its own.

How the score reads these

The InspectedCare Score weights deficiencies by severity class, so a Class 1 counts far more than a Class 4, and expresses the total as a per-bed rate within the facility's size band. The tier is a description of that record. The score does not judge the care; it summarizes the record, and links to it so you can read it yourself.

See how the tiers and thresholds are built in the methodology, or start from the Florida facilities scored on the record.

Florida facilities, scored on the record · How to check a facility · Methodology