No. CS/HB 1229
Filed under Healthcare.
Residential Homes for Medically or Technologically Dependent Children; Provides licensure & application requirements; requires AHCA to require certain background screening for certain persons; requires access to medically complex children's home at reasonable times for certain persons; requires agency to issue provisional license to newly licensed provider for specified timeframe; authorizes agency to issue conditional license for specified timeframe to licensed provider for specified reasons; requires agency to conduct inspections; provides rulemaking authority, procedures, & requirements; provides eligibility requirements to qualify for admission to medically complex children's home; provides uniform firesafety standards, emergency preparedness requirements, & construction standards; provides for denial, suspension, & revocation of license; provides for administrative fines.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThis bill creates a whole new type of state license: small residential homes that care for up to six medically or technologically dependent children who aren't related to the home's owner or operator, as a home-like alternative to hospitals or nursing facilities.
Only children referred from a Florida hospital or nursing facility, or from a parent or guardian who lives in Florida, may be admitted, and each child needs a doctor's order documenting a 24-hour medical or nursing need.
Homes must keep a licensed nurse on site at all times, install backup generators and fire sprinklers, screen staff, and submit to unannounced inspections. Violating safety rules can bar new admissions or trigger fines up to $1,000 per incident.
An existing developmental-disabilities group home that already shares ownership with a nursing agency, therapy clinic, equipment provider, and pediatric care center can convert to this new license without a full application. Families also gain a statutory right to in-person visits.
AIThe bill establishes a brand-new license category, replacing no prior one, for small residential homes serving up to six children who are medically or technologically dependent and unrelated to the person who owns or runs the home.
AIA child can only be admitted from a Florida hospital or nursing facility, or from the home of a parent or guardian who lives in Florida. Children whose families live out of state do not qualify.
AIA chapter 393 developmental-disabilities group home already licensed by June 30, 2026 is treated as meeting initial licensure if it also commonly owns a nursing agency, a pediatric extended care center, a home medical equipment provider, and a therapy clinic.
AIEvery medically complex children's home must have a permanent onsite generator and an automatic fire sprinkler system installed and maintained, plus an annual fire inspection and a firesafety evacuation review within 6 months of licensing.
AIEach home must staff a licensed nurse on duty at all times, not just during business hours, as part of the minimum standards the agency is required to set for staffing levels and qualifications.
AIIf a newly licensed home fails a followup inspection after violations are found, it cannot accept any more children, and if a second followup inspection still finds problems, the provisional license cannot be extended further.
AIViolations are fined by class and severity, from a mandatory citation on the least serious tier up to $1,000 for a widespread class I violation, plus a separate $500 fine specifically for background-screening noncompliance.
AIBy adding this new facility type to the statute governing in-person visitation, the bill gives families of children in a medically complex children's home the same visitation protections given to hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.