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Senate Bill 0208c1

Florida Senate - 1998 CS for SB 208 By the Committee on Health Care and Senators Brown-Waite, Latvala, Bronson, McKay and Grant 317-677B-98 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to nursing home facilities; 3 amending s. 400.121, F.S.; providing for an 4 expedited administrative hearing upon the 5 request of a licensee following an action by 6 the Agency for Health Care Administration to 7 suspend, deny, or revoke a facility's license; 8 creating s. 400.215, F.S.; requiring certain 9 nursing home facilities to investigate the 10 background of their employees and of certain 11 applicants for employment; providing for 12 rescreening; specifying the period for which 13 screenings are to remain valid, subject to 14 certain conditions; authorizing nursing home 15 facility administrators to acknowledge the 16 receipt of background screening reports; 17 requiring employees and applicants to pay the 18 costs associated with background screening 19 investigations; requiring the Department of 20 Health and the Agency for Health Care 21 Administration to determine certain exemptions 22 from disqualification from employment; 23 authorizing rulemaking; providing for 24 applicability; providing an effective date. 25 26 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 27 28 Section 1. Subsection (5) is added to section 400.121, 29 Florida Statutes, to read: 30 400.121 Denial, suspension, revocation of license; 31 moratorium on admissions; administrative fines; procedure.-- 1 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida Senate - 1998 CS for SB 208 317-677B-98 1 (5) An action taken by the agency to suspend, deny, or 2 revoke a facility's license under this part, in which the 3 agency claims that the facility owner or an employee of the 4 facility has threatened the health, safety, or welfare of a 5 resident of the facility, shall be heard by the Division of 6 Administrative Hearings of the Department of Management 7 Services within 120 days after receipt of the facility's 8 request for a hearing, unless the time limitation is waived by 9 both parties. The administrative law judge must render a 10 decision within 30 days after the hearing. This subsection 11 does not modify the requirement that an administrative hearing 12 be held within 90 days after a license is suspended under 13 paragraph (4)(b). 14 Section 2. Section 400.215, Florida Statutes, is 15 created to read: 16 400.215 Employee screening required.-- 17 (1) As a condition of licensure, each facility 18 licensed under this part is responsible for Level 1 background 19 screening, in accordance with chapter 435, of each employee 20 and each applicant who is under final consideration for 21 employment. 22 (a) If a screened employee discontinues working for 23 the facility for more than 12 months, the employee must 24 undergo another Level 1 background screening in accordance 25 with chapter 435, before starting employment with the facility 26 again. 27 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the 28 contrary, an applicant subject to this section who has been 29 screened and was not disqualified from employment and who has 30 not been unemployed for more than 6 months since completion of 31 the screening or who does not immediately accept employment 2 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida Senate - 1998 CS for SB 208 317-677B-98 1 from the facility that caused the screening to be performed, 2 need not be rescreened during the 12 months following 3 completion of the screening. 4 (2)(a) Before an applicant may be employed to work 5 directly with residents of the facility, the facility 6 administrator must obtain written findings evidencing 7 completion of Level 1 screening, as provided in chapter 435. 8 (b) An employee or applicant who is subject to this 9 section and who is determined to have met Level 1 background 10 screening standards but who has not maintained continuous 11 residence within the state for the 5 years immediately 12 preceding the completion date of the Level 1 background 13 screening, may work in a conditional status pending the 14 receipt of written findings evidencing the completion of Level 15 2 screening, as provided in chapter 435. 16 (3) For purposes of this section, notwithstanding the 17 provisions of s. 435.09 to the contrary, a nursing home 18 facility administrator licensed under s. 468.1645 may 19 acknowledge receipt of a qualifying or a disqualifying 20 screening report to another nursing home administrator 21 licensed under s. 468.1645 and must provide the date of the 22 screening report. 23 (4) Each employee and applicant who is subject to this 24 section is responsible for paying all fees associated with 25 background screening under chapter 435. The employee or 26 applicant shall submit payment for screening investigations 27 directly to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the 28 Department of Children and Family Services. Once employed by a 29 facility licensed under this part, an employee may be 30 reimbursed by the facility for the costs of background 31 screening. 3 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida Senate - 1998 CS for SB 208 317-677B-98 1 (5)(a) The Department of Health shall decide whether 2 to grant an exemption from disqualification, as provided in s. 3 435.07, to an employee or applicant who is subject to this 4 section and who has received a professional license or 5 certification from the department. 6 (b) The agency shall decide whether to grant an 7 exemption from disqualification, as provided in s. 435.07, to 8 an employee or applicant who is subject to this section and 9 who has not received a professional license or certification 10 from the Department of Health. 11 (6) The agency and the Department of Health shall 12 adopt rules to implement this section. 13 Section 3. An employee who is subject to this act and 14 who is employed by a facility licensed under part II of 15 chapter 400, Florida Statutes, on the effective date of this 16 act must comply with this act by October 1, 1998. An applicant 17 who is subject to this act and who applies for employment 18 after July 1, 1998, must comply with this act. 19 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 1998. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 4 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida Senate - 1998 CS for SB 208 317-677B-98 1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR 2 SB 208 3 4 Requires a Division of Administrative Hearings law judge to schedule a hearing within 120 days, unless both parties waive 5 that time period, for consideration of an action against a nursing home facility's license by the Agency for Health Care 6 Administration, except when the licensure action relates to suspension of a facility's license for which such a hearing 7 must be held within 90 days. 8 Changes the reference to persons who must be screened from "persons who have regular, unsupervised contact" to "employee 9 and applicant under final consideration for employment." 10 Makes nursing home facilities, as a condition of licensure, responsible for background screening of employees and 11 applicants under final consideration for employment. 12 Requires a screened employee who discontinues working for a facility for more than 12 months to be re-screened prior to 13 being reemployed by that facility. 14 Provides that an applicant who is screened and not disqualified from employment and who has not been unemployed 15 for more than 6 months since completion of the screening or who does not immediately accept employment from the facility 16 need not be re-screened during the 12-month period following completion of the screening. 17 Allows an employee or applicant under final consideration for 18 employment with a nursing home facility who is required to undergo Level 2 (federal) background screening to work in the 19 facility in a conditional status until such screening report is received. 20 Authorizes licensed nursing home administrators to acknowledge 21 to other licensed nursing home administrators receipt of a qualifying or disqualifying background screening report and 22 requires disclosure of the report date. Disclosure of report contents is prohibited. 23 Requires the Department of Health and the Agency for Health 24 Care Administration to conduct exemption hearings for nursing home facility employees or applicants under final 25 consideration for employment in a nursing home facility whose screening results disqualify them from employment in a nursing 26 home facility. 27 Requires the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Health to adopt rules to implement the 28 provisions of the bill. 29 Requires nursing home facility employees affected by the bill to comply with its provisions by October 1, 1998, and subjects 30 applicants who apply on or after July 1, 1998, to comply with the provisions of the bill. 31 5