In 1997, Florida changed its law regulating the building of health care facilities and services. The new law made it easier for projects to get approved and changed the rules for applying. The goal of the law is to control the number of health care facilities and services to keep costs down and make sure everyone can access good care. The law also has rules for how the government decides which projects to approve. In Florida, if a health care facility wants to start a new project, they can ask the Agency for Health Care Administration to see if they need approval. If the agency says the project is exempt, the facility can go ahead and start their project without needing any more approvals. In 1997, the law was changed to include hospices and long-term care hospitals in this process, and it also removed the need for approval for buying big medical equipment. The agency also has to think about other options before approving new building projects for hospitals. A new law in Florida changes the way replacement of health care facilities is reviewed. If the replacement is on the same site as the existing facility, it’s exempt from review. If it’s within one mile of the existing facility, it gets a quicker review. If it’s to any other site, it goes through a full review. The law also gets rid of review for certain types of projects, like ones that involve only money or a reduction in bed capacity. It also raises the threshold for how much a project’s cost can increase before it needs a review. Home health agencies won’t need a review anymore when the federal government changes how they get reimbursed, which is likely to happen in 2002. And hospitals can now provide adult inpatient cardiac catheterization services without needing a review, as long as they meet certain requirements. The agency has to make rules for how outpatient heart catheterization services can operate. They have to regulate things like the equipment, staff, hours of operation, and safety protocols. If a facility wants to be exempt from these rules, they have to wait until the rules are made, or until March 1, 1998. If the agency doesn’t make the rules by then, they can still review exemption requests based on the proposed rules. Once a facility gets an exemption, they have to follow the rules or they’ll lose their exemption. There’s also an 18-month grace period for meeting certain requirements. Some requirements for applying to open a health care facility have been removed because they were seen as too invasive. This section of the bill makes some changes to the process for applying for a certificate of need for healthcare facilities. It eliminates some requirements for submitting letters of intent to local health councils, changes the time for public notice of letters of intent, and removes the need for local publication of the letters of intent. It also says that mistakes in the application process won’t necessarily mean the application will be denied. The bill also changes the rules for administrative hearings about the applications. It removes some restrictions on who can challenge a decision and how long the process can take. It also extends the length of time a certificate of need is valid, and says that private accreditation is no longer required. The changes in the bill will only apply to applications filed after certain dates. The new bill will make it easier for healthcare providers like hospitals to start new services, which could lead to more competition and lower costs for patients. This is a big win for the healthcare industry, but it might take a while before we see any more changes in the rules. This column is from the Health Law Section, with Michael J. Glazer as the chair and Robert C. McCurdy as the editor. It aims to teach its members about serving the public, improving the justice system, and advancing the study of law.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/a-lawyers-trial-book-a-guide-to-the-1997-amendments-to-the-florida-rules-of-civil-procedure/
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