The Florida Senate

400.071  Application for license.--

(1)  An application for a license as required by s. 400.062 shall be made to the agency on forms furnished by it and shall be accompanied by the appropriate license fee.

(2)  The application shall be under oath and shall contain the following:

(a)  The name, address, and social security number of the applicant if an individual; if the applicant is a firm, partnership, or association, its name, address, and employer identification number (EIN), and the name and address of every member; if the applicant is a corporation, its name, address, and employer identification number (EIN), and the name and address of its director and officers and of each person having at least a 10-percent interest in the corporation; and the name by which the facility is to be known.

(b)  The name of any person whose name is required on the application under the provisions of paragraph (a) and who owns at least a 10-percent interest in any professional service, firm, association, partnership, or corporation providing goods, leases, or services to the facility for which the application is made, and the name and address of the professional service, firm, association, partnership, or corporation in which such interest is held.

(c)  The location of the facility for which a license is sought and an indication, as in the original application, that such location conforms to the local zoning ordinances.

(d)  The name of the person or persons under whose management or supervision the facility will be conducted and the name of its licensed administrator.

(e)  The total number of beds and the total number of Medicare and Medicaid certified beds.

(f)  Information relating to the number, experience, and training of the employees of the facility and of the moral character of the applicant and employees which the agency requires by rule, including the name and address of any nursing home with which the applicant or employees have been affiliated through ownership or employment within 5 years of the date of the application for a license and the record of any criminal convictions involving the applicant and any criminal convictions involving an employee if known by the applicant after inquiring of the employee. The applicant must demonstrate that sufficient numbers of qualified staff, by training or experience, will be employed to properly care for the type and number of residents who will reside in the facility.

(3)  The applicant shall submit evidence which establishes the good moral character of the applicant, manager, supervisor, and administrator. No applicant, if the applicant is an individual; no member of a board of directors or officer of an applicant, if the applicant is a firm, partnership, association, or corporation; and no licensed nursing home administrator shall have been convicted, or found guilty, regardless of adjudication, of a crime in any jurisdiction which affects or may potentially affect residents in the facility.

(4)  The applicant shall furnish satisfactory proof of financial ability to operate and conduct the home in accordance with the requirements of this part and all rules adopted under this part, and the agency shall establish standards for this purpose. The agency also shall establish documentation requirements, to be completed by each applicant, that show anticipated facility revenues and expenditures, the basis for financing the anticipated cash-flow requirements of the facility, and an applicant's access to contingency financing.

(5)  If the applicant offers continuing care agreements as defined in chapter 651, proof shall be furnished that such applicant has obtained a certificate of authority as required for operation under that chapter.

(6)  As a condition of licensure, each licensee, except one offering continuing care agreements as defined in chapter 651, must agree to accept recipients of Title XIX of the Social Security Act on a temporary, emergency basis. The persons whom the agency may require such licensees to accept are those recipients of Title XIX of the Social Security Act who are residing in a facility in which existing conditions constitute an immediate danger to the health, safety, or security of the residents of the facility.

(7)  The agency may not issue a license to a nursing home that fails to receive a certificate of need under the provisions of ss. 408.031-408.045. The agency may consider, in addition to the other criteria specified in s. 408.035, the statement of intent by the applicant to designate a percentage of the beds of the facility for use by patients eligible for care under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, the percentage to be all or a portion of the need for such beds as identified in the local health plan. It is the intent of the Legislature that preference be given to an application which most closely meets the need for such beds.

(8)  The agency may develop an abbreviated survey for licensure renewal applicable to a licensee that has continuously operated as a nursing facility since 1991 or earlier and has operated under the same management for at least the preceding 30 months and maintained a superior rating during that period.

History.--s. 6, ch. 69-309; ss. 19, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 5, 6, ch. 70-361; s. 1, ch. 70-439; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 2, ch. 76-201; s. 236, ch. 77-147; s. 2, ch. 77-323; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 4, 9, ch. 79-268; ss. 5, 18, ch. 80-186; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 12, 79, 83, ch. 83-181; s. 44, ch. 87-92; s. 30, ch. 93-177; ss. 11, 49, ch. 93-217; s. 11, ch. 97-87.