395.603 Deactivation of general hospital beds; rural hospital impact statement. - Florida Statutes

395.603 Deactivation of general hospital beds; rural hospital impact statement.

   (1) The agency shall establish, by rule, a process by which a rural hospital, as defined in s. 395.602, that seeks licensure as a rural primary care hospital or as an emergency care hospital, or becomes a certified rural health clinic as defined in Pub. L. No. 95-210, or becomes a primary care program such as a county health department, community health center, or other similar outpatient program that provides preventive and curative services, may deactivate general hospital beds. Rural primary care hospitals and emergency care hospitals shall maintain the number of actively licensed general hospital beds necessary for the facility to be certified for Medicare reimbursement. Hospitals that discontinue inpatient care to become rural health care clinics or primary care programs shall deactivate all licensed general hospital beds. All hospitals, clinics, and programs with inactive beds shall provide 24-hour emergency medical care by staffing an emergency room. Providers with inactive beds shall be subject to the criteria in s. 395.1041. The agency shall specify in rule requirements for making 24-hour emergency care available. Inactive general hospital beds shall be included in the acute care bed inventory, maintained by the agency for certificate-of-need purposes, for 10 years from the date of deactivation of the beds. After 10 years have elapsed, inactive beds shall be excluded from the inventory. The agency shall, at the request of the licensee, reactivate the inactive general beds upon a showing by the licensee that licensure requirements for the inactive general beds are met.

   (2) In formulating and implementing policies and rules that may have significant impact on the ability of rural hospitals to continue to provide health care services in rural communities, the agency, the department, or the respective regulatory board adopting policies or rules regarding the licensure or certification of health care professionals shall provide a rural hospital impact statement. The rural hospital impact statement shall assess the proposed action in light of the following questions:

   (a) Do the health personnel affected by the proposed action currently practice in rural hospitals or are they likely to in the near future?

   (b) What are the current numbers of the affected health personnel in this state, their geographic distribution, and the number practicing in rural hospitals?

   (c) What are the functions presently performed by the affected health personnel, and are such functions presently performed in rural hospitals?

   (d) What impact will the proposed action have on the ability of rural hospitals to recruit the affected personnel to practice in their facilities?

   (e) What impact will the proposed action have on the limited financial resources of rural hospitals through increased salaries and benefits necessary to recruit or retain such health personnel?

   (f) Is there a less stringent requirement which could apply to practice in rural hospitals?

   (g) Will this action create staffing shortages, which could result in a loss to the public of health care services in rural hospitals or result in closure of any rural hospitals?

History. s. 8, ch. 89-527; s. 1, ch. 90-192; ss. 46, 47, 98, ch. 92-289; s. 98, ch. 97-101.

Note. Former s. 395.103.