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The Florida Senate

2024 Florida Statutes

Title XXXII REGULATION OF PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
Chapter 491 CLINICAL, COUNSELING, AND PSYCHOTHERAPY SERVICES Entire Chapter
SECTION 009
Discipline.
F.S. 491.009
491.009 Discipline.—
(1) The following acts constitute grounds for denial of a license or disciplinary action, as specified in s. 456.072(2) or s. 491.017:
(a) Attempting to obtain, obtaining, or renewing a license, registration, or certificate under this chapter by bribery or fraudulent misrepresentation or through an error of the board or the department.
(b) Having a license, registration, or certificate to practice a comparable profession revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against, including the denial of certification or licensure by another state, territory, or country.
(c) Being convicted or found guilty of, regardless of adjudication, or having entered a plea of nolo contendere to, a crime in any jurisdiction which directly relates to the practice of his or her profession or the ability to practice his or her profession. However, in the case of a plea of nolo contendere, the board shall allow the person who is the subject of the disciplinary proceeding to present evidence in mitigation relevant to the underlying charges and circumstances surrounding the plea.
(d) False, deceptive, or misleading advertising or obtaining a fee or other thing of value on the representation that beneficial results from any treatment will be guaranteed.
(e) Advertising, practicing, or attempting to practice under a name other than one’s own.
(f) Maintaining a professional association with any person who the applicant, licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder knows, or has reason to believe, is in violation of this chapter or of a rule of the department or the board.
(g) Knowingly aiding, assisting, procuring, or advising any nonlicensed, nonregistered, or noncertified person to hold himself or herself out as licensed, registered, or certified under this chapter.
(h) Failing to perform any statutory or legal obligation placed upon a person licensed, registered, or certified under this chapter.
(i) Willfully making or filing a false report or record; failing to file a report or record required by state or federal law; willfully impeding or obstructing the filing of a report or record; or inducing another person to make or file a false report or record or to impede or obstruct the filing of a report or record. Such report or record includes only a report or record which requires the signature of a person licensed, registered, or certified under this chapter.
(j) Paying a kickback, rebate, bonus, or other remuneration for receiving a patient or client, or receiving a kickback, rebate, bonus, or other remuneration for referring a patient or client to another provider of mental health care services or to a provider of health care services or goods; referring a patient or client to oneself for services on a fee-paid basis when those services are already being paid for by some other public or private entity; or entering into a reciprocal referral agreement.
(k) Committing any act upon a patient or client which would constitute sexual battery or which would constitute sexual misconduct as defined pursuant to s. 491.0111.
(l) Making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of any profession licensed, registered, or certified under this chapter.
(m) Soliciting patients or clients personally, or through an agent, through the use of fraud, intimidation, undue influence, or a form of overreaching or vexatious conduct.
(n) Failing to make available to a patient or client, upon written request, copies of tests, reports, or documents in the possession or under the control of the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder which have been prepared for and paid for by the patient or client.
(o) Failing to respond within 30 days to a written communication from the department or the board concerning any investigation by the department or the board, or failing to make available any relevant records with respect to any investigation about the licensee’s, registered intern’s, or certificateholder’s conduct or background.
(p) Being unable to practice the profession for which he or she is licensed, registered, or certified under this chapter with reasonable skill or competence as a result of any mental or physical condition or by reason of illness; drunkenness; or excessive use of drugs, narcotics, chemicals, or any other substance. In enforcing this paragraph, upon a finding by the State Surgeon General, the State Surgeon General’s designee, or the board that probable cause exists to believe that the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder is unable to practice the profession because of the reasons stated in this paragraph, the department shall have the authority to compel a licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder to submit to a mental or physical examination by psychologists, physicians, or other licensees under this chapter, designated by the department or board. If the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder refuses to comply with such order, the department’s order directing the examination may be enforced by filing a petition for enforcement in the circuit court in the circuit in which the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder resides or does business. The licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder against whom the petition is filed may not be named or identified by initials in any public court records or documents, and the proceedings shall be closed to the public. The department shall be entitled to the summary procedure provided in s. 51.011. A licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder affected under this paragraph shall at reasonable intervals be afforded an opportunity to demonstrate that he or she can resume the competent practice for which he or she is licensed, registered, or certified with reasonable skill and safety to patients.
(q) Performing any treatment or prescribing any therapy which, by the prevailing standards of the mental health professions in the community, would constitute experimentation on human subjects, without first obtaining full, informed, and written consent.
(r) Failing to meet the minimum standards of performance in professional activities when measured against generally prevailing peer performance, including the undertaking of activities for which the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder is not qualified by training or experience.
(s) Delegating professional responsibilities to a person who the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder knows or has reason to know is not qualified by training or experience to perform such responsibilities.
(t) Violating a rule relating to the regulation of the profession or a lawful order of the department or the board previously entered in a disciplinary hearing.
(u) Failure of the licensee, registered intern, or certificateholder to maintain in confidence a communication made by a patient or client in the context of such services, except as provided in s. 491.0147.
(v) Making public statements which are derived from test data, client contacts, or behavioral research and which identify or damage research subjects or clients.
(w) Violating any provision of this chapter or chapter 456, or any rules adopted pursuant thereto.
(2)(a) The board or, in the case of certified master social workers, the department may enter an order denying licensure or imposing any of the penalties authorized in s. 456.072(2) against any applicant for licensure or any licensee who violates subsection (1) or s. 456.072(1).
(b) The board may take adverse action against a clinical social worker’s, a marriage and family therapist’s, or a mental health counselor’s privilege to practice under the Professional Counselors Licensure Compact pursuant to s. 491.017 and may impose any of the penalties in s. 456.072(2) if the clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, or mental health counselor commits an act specified in subsection (1) or s. 456.072(1).
History.—ss. 15, 19, ch. 87-252; ss. 9, 19, 20, ch. 90-263; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 229, ch. 96-410; s. 1136, ch. 97-103; s. 16, ch. 97-198; s. 208, ch. 97-264; s. 154, ch. 98-166; s. 214, ch. 2000-160; s. 53, ch. 2001-277; s. 28, ch. 2005-240; s. 103, ch. 2008-6; s. 9, ch. 2019-134; s. 123, ch. 2020-2; s. 47, ch. 2020-133; s. 9, ch. 2022-63; s. 107, ch. 2023-8.