Assisted Living News

Vol. 22 Issue 25

Update: AHCA ALF Rulemaking Development Workshop/Rule 59A-36.001 Standards and Criteria for Determining Resident Rights – The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) held a Rulemaking Development Workshop for 59A-36.001 Standards and Criteria for Determining Resident Rights on Friday, November 6, 2015. The draft proposed rule was distributed at the workshop. Comments are due by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 18, 2015.

You may submit comments to Susan Langston for coordination and submission on behalf of our members by 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 13th, or you may file comments directly with AHCA by sending them to Catherine Anne Avery at AHCA, 2727 Mahan Drive, Tallahassee, Florida, 32308.

Background:

CS/HB 1001, enacted by the 2015 Legislature, directs AHCA to adopt rules for uniform standards and criteria to be used to determine compliance with facility standards and resident rights. In addition to agency staff and surveyors, and Department of Elder Affairs staff, the workshop was attended by representatives of LeadingAge Florida, Florida Health Care Association, Florida Assisted Living Association, FL ALFA, Doug Adkins of Dayspring Village, elder affairs attorneys, and others.

Recap:

Comments presented include:

• The purpose of the rules is to address two issues: 1) AHCA needs to develop clear standards and criteria for determining ALF compliance with survey standards, and 2) AHCA needs to develop standards to be used to determine compliance with resident rights.
• All forms that are used for the survey process to determine compliance should be adopted by rule.
• The ALF Resource Manual should be included in the rule.
• An ALF owner/operator should have an opportunity to provide a response to a deficiency to the area office supervisor before a deficiency is posted on the website.
• The ALF unit manager should be responsible for oversight of ALF surveys and surveyors – this would create greater clarity for, and importance of, the survey process.
• The survey process should be tied to a survey index to eliminate confusion.
• The terms “standards”, “criteria” and “resident rights” are not defined in law. The rule should define these terms, as well as “determination of survey compliance.”
• A Survey Review Council, consisting of stakeholders and others, should be established to periodically review criteria and standards used in the survey process.
• The Aspen Reg. set used by surveyors should be adopted by rule so each tag can be tied back to something specific in the regulations.
• AHCA advised the Aspen Reg. Set is the rule cut and pasted into a document, rather than interpretive guidelines.
• It was suggested it would be more useful to add interpretive guidelines to the Aspen Reg. Set (similar to what is used for nursing homes). FHCA advised their nursing homes don’t want to be surveyed by interpretive guidelines.
• AHCA affirmed clarity and transparency is what the agency wants – not a surveyor’s interpretation.
• AHCA ALF surveyors should be CORE trained to help distinguish ALFs from other types of facilities they survey.
• AHCA has an internal ALF CORE training consisting of 36 hours, not 26 hours, and the objective is to have uniformity across the state with all surveyors using the same book and with as little interpretation as possible.
• The focus of the survey process being “resident-centered” should be codified in rule.
• The DOEA is working on rulemaking, including resident rights, in a much broader sense. AHCA should work with DOEA to define aspects of resident rights, such as “safe environment” and “access to adequate health care.”
• “Core survey tasks” should be defined.

 

AHCA Secretary Elizabeth Dudek, said, “When consumers are making health care decisions, they always benefit when they have access to a wealth of data. We continue to support the Governor’s promise for Better Health Care for All Floridians, and floridahealthfinder.gov continues to provide top-notch guides, tools and resources that allow consumers and their families to choose the best of the best assisted living facilities.”

To view the press release for this tool, please click here.