CS for SB 1158 Summary

• Creates section 430.81, F.S. to establish a "teaching agency for home and community-based care" designation for licensed home health agencies with sufficient elderly resident populations to support education, training, and gerontology research.

• Department of Elderly Affairs may designate qualifying home health agencies that have operated as not-for-profit community care for the elderly lead agencies for 10+ consecutive years and been in business in Florida for 20+ consecutive years.

• Requires designated agencies to maintain nationally recognized accreditation, participate actively in multidisciplinary gerontology education and research, and have formal affiliation agreements with established academic research universities with accredited health professions programs in Florida.

• Requires teaching agencies to be Medicare and Medicaid certified, participate in the nursing home diversion program for 5+ consecutive years, and maintain $750,000 minimum insurance coverage or financial responsibility through escrow accounts or letters of credit.

• Authorizes teaching agencies to affiliate with academic health centers to improve home health agency capability in providing medical, psychological, and social services to frail and elderly persons.