Pinnacle Home Care
199 Avenue B, Nw, Winter Haven, FL 33881
Medicare-certified home health agencyProprietaryCertified since February 16, 2006
Services offered
- Nursing care
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Speech pathology
- Medical social services
- Home health aides
What these service chips mean moreless
Medicare-certified home health can include six services: skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, medical social services, and home health aides. Agencies differ — some are therapy-heavy, some nursing-only. If the doctor's orders include physical therapy and the agency doesn't offer it, they'll have to arrange it through someone else, which adds handoffs. This list is what the agency is certified to provide, not a promise about scheduling or availability in your area.
What to do with this: match the chips against the doctor's orders, and ask how anything missing would be covered.
Pinnacle Home Care is a for-profit Medicare-certified home health agency in Winter Haven, Florida, certified since 2006. As of CMS data last updated March 5, 2026, its quality-of-patient-care rating is 3 of 5 stars.
Two ratings — measuring different things
These two stars measure different things — clinical results vs. what patients said. Don't average them in your head. moreless
The Quality of Patient Care star comes from clinical data: assessments and Medicare claims about whether patients improved. The Patient Survey star comes from questionnaires filled out by patients and families about how the care felt. They are calculated separately, from different sources, and they often disagree. That disagreement is information: strong clinical star with a weak survey star can mean effective care that communicates badly; the reverse can mean a well-liked team whose patients improve more slowly than average.
What to do with this: when the two stars disagree, ask the agency about the weaker one — the answer will tell you a lot.
The Quality of Patient Care star is built from clinical results — how often patients actually got better. moreless
Medicare scores every certified home health agency from 1 to 5 stars (in half-star steps) on the quality of patient care. It's built from clinical measures: how often patients got better at walking, bathing, and taking their medicines, how quickly care started, and how often patients ended up in the hospital. The data comes from OASIS — the standardized assessment a nurse or therapist fills out at the start and end of care — plus Medicare claims. Five stars means results much better than average, not perfect; a low star means results below average, not that every visit goes badly. Stars can lag reality by months, and they can't measure whether the aide who comes on Tuesdays is kind.
What to do with this: use the star to build a shortlist, then interview the agency like you'd interview anyone coming into your home.
The Patient Survey star is different: it's what actual patients said about this agency. moreless
After care ends, a sample of each agency's patients gets a standardized survey (called HHCAHPS) asking how the experience really was: did the team act professionally, did they communicate well, did they explain medicines and safety, would you recommend them. Those answers become a separate 1–5 star rating. This star measures experience, not clinical results — an agency can heal wounds well but communicate poorly, or the reverse. Survey scores also depend on how many patients answered: with few surveys, one unhappy family can move the number a lot.
What to do with this: read it next to the number of completed surveys shown below it. A star built on 30 surveys is a hint; one built on 300 is a pattern.
Outcome measures — how often patients got better
From OASIS assessments done at the start and end of care, compared to CMS’s published state and national averages.
The 'got better' measures track how often patients improved at everyday things — walking, bathing, getting out of bed, breathing, managing medicines. moreless
These come from OASIS, the standardized assessment done at the start and end of care: a clinician scores what the patient could do on day one and again at discharge. 'Got better at walking' means the discharge score improved over the start score. These are the core of home health — the whole point is recovering function at home. Two honest caveats: the same agency staff fill out the assessments (CMS audits, but it's partly self-scored), and agencies serving sicker or more complex patients can have lower improvement rates without giving worse care.
What to do with this: compare each rate to the state and national averages shown, and ask the agency how they set goals for someone like your person.
OASIS is the standardized assessment a home health clinician completes at the start and end of care — most quality measures come from it. moreless
OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) is a federally required assessment: a nurse or therapist scores the patient's condition — mobility, self-care, breathing, medications, wounds — when care begins, and again when it ends. Comparing the two is how CMS knows whether patients improved. It's filled out by the agency's own staff, which is why CMS pairs it with claims-based measures that agencies can't self-report.
What to do with this: nothing to act on — it's the plumbing behind the numbers. Just know 'got better' means 'improved between two OASIS assessments.'
How often care started in a timely manner — the first visit happening when it's supposed to. moreless
When a doctor orders home health, the clock matters: the first days after a hospital discharge are when things go wrong. This measure tracks how often the agency started care within the expected window. On the ground, a late start means a wound unchecked, medicines unreconciled, and a family alone with a hospital bed and no instructions. It's one of the most practical numbers on this page.
What to do with this: ask exactly how many days after referral the first visit will happen, and who to call if nobody shows.
How often a patient had a fall with a major injury during care. Lower is better. moreless
Falls are the fastest way a recovery at home turns into a hospital stay. This measure counts falls that caused a major injury — a break, a head injury — while the patient was under the agency's care. The rates look small (a few percent or less), but every point is someone's parent on the floor. Good agencies work on this constantly: clearing walkways, checking medications that cause dizziness, teaching safe transfers.
What to do with this: ask what the agency does on the first visit to make the home safer, and who reassesses fall risk when medicines change.
The Discharge Function Score: how often patients left care at or above the ability level expected for someone like them. moreless
For each patient, CMS estimates the level of self-care and mobility they'd be expected to reach by discharge, given their condition. This score is the share of patients who met or beat that expectation. It's a fairer version of 'did people get better' because the bar is set per patient — an agency isn't penalized for taking on harder cases.
What to do with this: treat it as the summary of the recovery measures, and compare it to the state and national averages shown.
Began patients' care in a timely manner
Patients got better at walking or moving around
Patients got better at getting in and out of bed
Patients got better at bathing
Patients' breathing improved
Patients got better at taking their drugs correctly by mouth
Patients had one or more falls with a major injury
lower is better
Discharge Function Score
share of patients at or above their expected ability level at discharge
More quality measures
| Measure | This agency | FL avg | US avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checked whether patients received a flu shot | 59.5% | 62.8% | 64.3% |
| New or worsened pressure ulcers/injuries (lower is better) | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Physician-recommended medication actions completely timely | 95.7% | 95.5% | 94.5% |
| Provided a medication list to the next provider at discharge | 53.6% | 77.4% | 80.5% |
| Provided a medication list to the patient/family at discharge | 93.7% | 91.7% | 91.8% |
Hospital visits & staying home
Risk-standardized rates from Medicare claims. CMS compares each agency to the national rate and labels it better, same, or worse.
Hospitalization and readmission rates are risk-standardized — adjusted for how sick each agency's patients are. Lower is better. moreless
Some patients are far more likely to end up in the hospital than others, no matter how good the care is. So for these measures CMS adjusts each agency's rate for its patient mix, then compares it to the national rate and labels it better, same, or worse than the national rate. These come from Medicare claims, not self-reported assessments — which makes them hard to game. A 'worse than national' label means that even after accounting for sicker patients, more of this agency's patients ended up in the hospital than expected.
What to do with this: weight these labels heavily — they're claims-based and risk-adjusted. Ask any agency how they respond when a patient starts declining at home.
Admitted to the hospital for a potentially preventable condition while receiving home health care (PPH)
lower is better
This agency: 11.2%National observed rate: 10.8%Same As National Rate
Re-admitted to the hospital for a potentially preventable condition after discharge from home health (PPR)
lower is better
This agency: 4.6%National observed rate: 4.1%Same As National Rate
Remained at home within 31 days of being discharged from home health (DTC)
higher is better
This agency: 88.3%National observed rate: 77.7%Better Than National Rate
What patients said (HHCAHPS survey)
Percent of surveyed patients answering in the most positive category, vs CMS’s published state and national averages (survey period 2024Q4 to 2025Q3).
Survey scores are only as solid as the number of surveys behind them. moreless
The patient survey is sent to a sample of each agency's patients, and not everyone responds. CMS reports both the number of completed surveys and the response rate. Fewer than about 100 completed surveys means individual experiences can swing the percentages noticeably; CMS itself flags agencies under 70 completed surveys and tells readers to use those scores with caution. A low response rate doesn't make an agency bad — small agencies simply have fewer patients to ask.
What to do with this: check the survey count before trusting a percentage. Small sample, softer conclusion.
| Patients reported… | This agency | FL avg | US avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gave care in a professional way | 84% | 89% | 89% |
| Communicated well with them | 83% | 86% | 86% |
| Discussed medicines, pain, and home safety | 77% | 79% | 82% |
| Rated this agency 9 or 10 out of 10 | 78% | 85% | 85% |
| Would definitely recommend this agency | 70% | 78% | 79% |
Based on 341 completed surveys · response rate 21%.
Other agencies serving Winter Haven
Most families compare 2–3 agencies. Same city, sorted by quality-of-patient-care star:
Bringing care into your home? Go in with questions.
Built from this agency’s own CMS data — bring them to the intake call.
- Their "got better at walking or moving around" rate (83.5%) is below the FL average (89.8%) — ask how they set mobility goals and how often a therapist reassesses them.
- Their "got better at taking their drugs correctly by mouth" rate (84.4%) is below the FL average (88.5%) — ask who teaches the medication routine and what they leave behind in writing.
- 70% of surveyed patients said they would definitely recommend this agency (FL average: 78%) — ask what they hear most often from families, good and bad.
- Their quality-of-patient-care rating is 3 of 5 stars (FL average: 3.5) — ask which of the underlying measures they're actively working to improve.
- 83% of surveyed patients said the team communicated well with them — ask who your single point of contact is, and how visit schedules and changes get communicated.
- CMS lists this agency as offering 6 of the 6 Medicare home health services — ask which disciplines would actually be on your person's care team, and how often each would visit.
What this page can’t show you
CMS’s public home-health data has no inspection reports, no complaint records, and no violations file— none is published for home health agencies the way it is for nursing homes. Nothing on this page means “no problems on record”; it means records of that kind aren’t in the public data at all.
Where inspection records actually live moreless
For nursing homes, CMS publishes inspection deficiencies, fines, and penalties. For home health agencies it publishes none of that — no survey findings, no complaint investigations, no enforcement records — in its public provider-data catalog. So a page with no problems listed does NOT mean a clean record; it means the public data has no place where problems of that kind would appear. State health departments license and inspect home health agencies, and some publish their findings separately.
What to do with this: never read 'nothing bad shown' as 'nothing bad happened.' For inspection history, contact your state health department, and verify anything important at medicare.gov/care-compare.
Data: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (data.cms.gov), last updated March 5, 2026 (patient survey period 2024Q4 to 2025Q3). This site is not affiliated with CMS or any government agency.