The Florida Senate

651.1185  Moratorium on nursing home certificates of need.--

(1)  Notwithstanding the establishment of need as provided for in chapter 408, no certificate of need for additional community nursing home beds shall be approved by the agency until July 1, 2006.

(2)  The Legislature finds that the continued growth in the Medicaid budget for nursing home care has constrained the ability of the state to meet the needs of its elderly residents through the use of less restrictive and less institutional methods of long-term care. It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to limit the increase in Medicaid nursing home expenditures in order to provide funds to invest in long-term care that is community-based and provides supportive services in a manner that is both more cost-effective and more in keeping with the wishes of the elderly residents of this state.

(3)  This moratorium on certificates of need shall not apply to sheltered nursing home beds in a continuing care retirement community certified by the former Department of Insurance or by the Office of Insurance Regulation pursuant to chapter 651.

(4)(a)  The moratorium on certificates of need does not apply and a certificate of need for additional community nursing home beds may be approved for a county that meets the following circumstances:

1.  The county has no community nursing home beds; and

2.  The lack of community nursing home beds occurs because all nursing home beds in the county that were licensed on July 1, 2001, have subsequently closed.

(b)  The certificate-of-need review for such circumstances shall be subject to the comparative review process consistent with the provisions of s. 408.039, and the number of beds may not exceed the number of beds lost by the county after July 1, 2001.

This subsection shall be repealed upon the expiration of the moratorium established in subsection (1).

(5)  The moratorium on certificates of need does not apply for the addition of nursing home beds licensed under chapter 400 to a nursing home located in a county having up to 50,000 residents, in a number not exceeding 10 total beds or 10 percent of the number of beds licensed in the facility being expanded, whichever is greater. In addition to any other documentation required by the agency, a request submitted under this subsection must:

(a)  Certify that the facility has not had any class I or class II deficiencies within the 30 months preceding the request for addition.

(b)  Certify that the prior 12-month average occupancy rate for the nursing home beds at the facility meets or exceeds 94 percent and the facility had not had any class I or class II deficiencies since its initial licensure.

(c)  For a facility that has been licensed for less than 24 months, certify that the prior 6-month average occupancy rate for the nursing home beds at the facility meets or exceeds 94 percent and that the facility has not had any class I or class II deficiencies since its initial licensure.

This subsection shall be repealed upon the expiration of the moratorium established in subsection (1).

History.--s. 52, ch. 2001-45; s. 1693, ch. 2003-261; s. 12, ch. 2004-298; s. 14, ch. 2004-383.