Lake Mariam Health and Rehab: Refund Withheld After Death - FL
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident #3, had been discharged from the facility on August 10, 2025, transferred to a hospital, and died there on September 1. His representative told the inspector, during an interview on the morning of April 29, 2026, that the refund had never come.
The facility's own financial records confirmed it. A transaction report covering May 2025 through March 2026 showed a credit balance of $620.29 in the resident's account — money he had overpaid, money the facility owed back.
Nobody had sent it.
A second case was sitting in the same business office. Resident #9 had also died, on August 20, 2026, according to inspection records. A review of that resident's financial file, covering July 2025 through March 2026, showed a credit balance of $804.81. The resident had actually requested the refund before dying. According to the facility's Business Office Manager, that request had been forwarded to the corporate accounts payable office on March 30, 2026 — more than a month before the inspection.
The check still had not been sent.
When inspectors sat down with the Business Office Manager and the Nursing Home Administrator at 12:11 p.m. on April 29, both administrators confirmed what the records already showed. Neither refund had been issued. The Nursing Home Administrator stated directly that both residents had exceeded the 30-day post-discharge window without receiving their money back.
The administrator did not dispute the timeline. There was no claim of a processing error, no explanation of a system failure, no suggestion that anyone had tried and been blocked. The refund for Resident #9 had been routed to corporate a month earlier. It stopped there.
Together, the two families were owed $1,425.10.
The violation cited by inspectors falls into the category of minimal harm or potential for actual harm — the lowest tier of severity in federal nursing home enforcement. No resident was physically hurt by the delay. But the classification somewhat obscures what the inspection actually documented: a facility that collected money from residents, watched those residents die, and then held onto the balances while families waited.
The facility's own written policy, reviewed by inspectors, required refunds to be completed within 30 days of a resident's death. The policy's stated purpose was to "ensure refund of overpayments are made consistent with applicable legal requirements and standards of practice." Personnel were required to "promptly refund to any private payor any overpayment received." The policy specified that personal funds would be made available to a resident's representative within 30 days of death.
Resident #3 died September 1, 2025. By the time inspectors arrived on April 29, 2026, 240 days had passed.
The inspection was complaint-driven, meaning someone — the records do not specify who — filed a formal complaint that prompted the visit. Inspectors reviewed three resident cases and found the refund failure in two of them.
What the inspection does not answer is how common this pattern is beyond the three cases reviewed. The business office's handling of Resident #9's request offers a partial window. The resident asked for the money back. Staff processed the request internally and sent it to corporate accounts payable at the end of March. Then nothing happened. The Business Office Manager confirmed at the time of inspection that the refund still had not been sent — more than four weeks after the corporate office received the request.
Resident #3's family had no such paper trail working in their favor. The representative told the inspector they had not received anything. The facility's records showed the credit had been sitting there for months. Whether the family had contacted the facility before the inspection, and what response if any they received, the inspection report does not say.
Both residents' families were left to pursue what should have been automatic. When a resident dies in a nursing facility, the return of overpaid personal funds is not a favor the facility extends — it is an obligation triggered by death itself. The facility's own policy said so. The administrator confirmed the obligation had not been met. The inspector cited the deficiency.
What happens next for the families depends on whether the facility follows through under the pressure of a cited deficiency and an approved plan of correction, which facilities are required to submit to maintain their Medicare and Medicaid participation. The inspection report does not indicate whether either refund had been sent by the time the document was finalized.
Resident #3's representative, who spoke with the inspector on the morning of April 29, had been waiting since at least September 2025. They were asking about money that belonged to someone who was already gone, trying to close out an account that the facility had never closed.
The $620.29 credit sat in the transaction records. The $804.81 sat somewhere in a corporate accounts payable queue. And the families waited.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Lake Mariam Health and Rehabilitation Center from 2026-04-29 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 19, 2026 · Our methodology
LAKE MARIAM HEALTH AND REHABILITATION CENTER in WINTER HAVEN, FL was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 29, 2026.
His representative told the inspector, during an interview on the morning of April 29, 2026, that the refund had never come.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.