It is good that you have decided to open an Assisted Living Facility in Florida. As per Florida Department of Elder Affairs, an Assisted Living Facility is similar to a residential care facility to provides meals, housing, supportive services, and personal care to disabled adults and older persons who are not fit to live independently. They might not require 24-hour nursing provisions hence they can live comfortably in ALF – Assisted Living Facility, which doesn’t have many institutional restrictions. Also, Assisted Living Facility is cost-effective.
Licensing Requirements for Opening an Assisted Living Facility
There are four types of Licenses for Assisted Living Facilities in Florida
Standard License:
In Florida, a standard license is required for all Assisted Living Facilities that want to operate in this space. For the facilities to get this license, they must have the below-mentioned facilities for their residents.
- Dressing
- Toileting
- Feeding Help
- Meal services
- Bathing and Grooming
- Medication management
- Changing locations-transfer such as from chair to walker, chair to bed, and vice versa, etc.
- Nurses in the Assisted Living Facility must be licensed nurses and authorized to assist the patients with sleep, oxygen intake, splints, casts, braces, etc.
Limited Mental Health License (LMH):
The Assisted Living Facility that offers mental health services to one or more residents that it needs the LMH license. The mental health services are a bit different from the standard ones mentioned above. The facility needs to cater to the mental health needs of the patients too. In some cases, they might need to coordinate with the patient’s case manager.
Limited Nursing Services (LNS):
LNS is a license above the Standard License, which means an Assisted Living Facility with a Limited Nursing Services license can offer all those facilities listed under Standard License and more that are mentioned below.
- Exercise Sessions for better join motions and nerve response
- Apply collars, heat therapies, and ice caps to residents
- Taking care of cleaning and irrigation of ears and eyes regularly
- Nail-cutting, urine testing,
- Assistance with catheter replacement
- Change the wound bandages
Extended Congregate Care (ECC):
An Assisted Living with an ECC license can offer all the facilities listed in Standard License and Limited Nursing Services and more that are mentioned below.
- Complete care for bathing, toileting, dressing, and grooming.
- Regular checking of vitals, maintaining the chart
- Monitor/suggest food intakes and drinks based on health conditions. A complete diet management service offering.
- Memory care facilities
- Assist rehabilitation requirements
- Transportation services for medical appointments and other visits
- Several training and education programs for better health
No matter your Assisted Living Facility’s size, it has to go for any of the above-mentioned licenses from AHCA. When you apply for licenses, make sure you comply with all the general healthcare licensing requirements.
Your issued license will show you the following
- Name of licensee
- Type of provider
- Date of issue and expiration
- Maximum capacity of the Assisted Living Facility
- Other information that AHCA made necessary to put.
All the applicants are required to take the Assisted Living Facility Director’s course and a level II background screening test while submitting the application.
The applicant also needs to identify and declare all the other assisted living facilities or community residential homes he/she is operating. This is because every separate premise needs to have a separate license based on the features and facilities in that premise, even if they have the same owner or operator.
The application must declare the location documents signed and tested by the local government officials. The applicant must have and provide liability insurance proof to prove that the facility has met all the requirements to be a community residential home.
The applicant must submit the proper documents regarding fire safety inspection and sanitation inspection in the Assisted Living Facility.
All the Assisted Living Facilities must go through a yearly fire safety system inspection that the authority under their jurisdiction or local fire marshal will conduct.
