FSLA 2022 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

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FSLA 2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION WRAP-UP

FLORIDA LEGISLATURE GAVELS OUT SINE DIE

FSLA WORKS FOR YOU & KEEPS YOU IN THE KNOW

FSLA continues to protect and work for good policy for ALFs:

Passage of SB 7014 Covid-19 Claims Against Health Care Providers
$500,000 Secured For FSLA's On-The-Job CNA Trainer Program
Passage of SB 988 In Person Visitation
Passage of HB 469 Patient Care in Health Care Facilities
Outcome of other bills of interest to the senior living industry

A session like this serves to remind our members why belonging to FSLA is beneficial and should illustrate to the non-member senior living communities in Florida that their individual interests and their success lies with FSLA's overarching success.

FSLA's understanding of the politics, personalities and policies in the process, and our sophistication in navigating these complex waters is why FSLA was created and why FSLA again and again comes through for the senior living industry. We also could not have been so successful without our lobbyist, James McFaddin and his team at The Southern Group, Florida's premier lobbying firm.

FSLA's four corners of legislative success revolve around strengthening communities; enriching resident experiences; empowering staff success; and enhancing marketplace competitiveness. Our track record of success speaks for itself!

FSLA will be briefing our members regarding implementation of legislation that passed throughout the summer; however, some of the highlights of the hundreds of bills and related issues FSLA was tracking this session include:

Passage of SB 7014 - COVID-19 Claims Against Health Care Providers

The bill extends the limitation of liability for COVID-19 claims created last year for health care providers. When the COVID liability bill passed last year, it was only effective for health care providers for 1 year – until March 29, 2022. Months ago, FSLA was among the first to sound the alarm that the language was expiring and that an extension was needed in light of the continuing pandemic.

FSLA quickly engaged with the broad-based provider coalition that worked to pass the bill last year and assumed a leadership role in advocating to the Florida Legislature to bring this to their attention and garner their support. The net result was to extend these protections until June 1, 2023.

The provisions extended include liability protections for COVID-19-related claims against a health care provider mainly related to claims arising from:

The diagnosis or treatment of a person for COVID-19;
The provision of a novel or experimental COVID-19 treatment;
The transmission of COVID-19; and
The delay or cancellation of a surgery or medical procedure.

The provisions extended also include an affirmative defense for health care providers who can prove substantial compliance with various government issued standards.

"We are so grateful to the Florida Legislature for recognizing the importance of continuing to protect senior living communities who were operating in good faith during the pandemic," said Gail Matillo, President of Florida Senior Living Association. "As Governor DeSantis previously indicted, the drastic spike in cases and hospitalizations just a few months ago here in Florida was to be expected as the pandemic is proving to be seasonal. We need to get through next summer and see how we fare before removing important protections for health and long-term care providers. Extending the protections from frivolous lawsuits is a top legislative priority for FSLA and our members."

FSLA was engaged at every committee stop, advocating for the need to extend the Covid liability limitations for one more year on behalf of our members. One important part of the process is not just for associations like FSLA to advocate, but also for our own members and partners to come to Tallahassee and provide real-world examples of the need for these protections.

Yolanda Hue, Business Development Coordinator with Tapestry Senior Living, testified in support of the bill. “We are now in the middle of dealing with Omicron, a less deadly but far more contagious COVID-19 variant. We are also in the middle of a widespread and widely acknowledged staffing shortage. In the face of those challenges, we are all doing our best — as we’ve done and as we continue to do — to provide the highest level of care to our residents. And we continue to provide that care under the regulatory scrutiny of multiple state and federal agencies.”

Robin Khanal, Partner with Quintairos, Prieto, Wood, & Boyer, PA, testified in support of the bill, providing context to the legislature around questions about the number of Covid lawsuits that have been filed and the need to continue the protections through the next year.

"In Florida, the estimated impact of COVID-19 on ALFs through the first quarter of 2021 was $2.3 billion. In 2022, COVID-19 continues to create strain on Florida’s long term care facilities dealing with a workforce crisis, historically low occupancy, increasing operations costs, and ever-increasing liability insurance costs," said Jason Hand, FSLA’s VP of Public Policy & Legal Affairs. "ALFs operating in good faith and following current federal and state guidance don’t also need the cost and distraction of frivolous lawsuits. We appreciate the Legislature's attention to this critical issue, and extend our thanks to Representative Colleen Burton and Senator Danny Burgess for their efforts to pass this crucial legislation.”

$500,000 Secured For FSLA's

On-The-Job CNA Trainer Program

This year, for the first time ever, FSLA requested $500,000 in funding from the legislature via a local funding initiative request for a CNA On-the-Job Training Program. Senator Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart) graciously agreed to sponsor this funding request, and FSLA can report that the $500,000 was included as part of the 2022-2023 state budget. Pending approval by Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida Senior Living Institute will enter into an agreement with the Florida Department of Health to implement this program.

The program creates an on-going initiative aimed at investing in the training of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in assisted living and memory care communities throughout the state in order to help alleviate the workforce shortage crisis being experienced by these senior living communities.

The funds will be used to alleviate the financial burdens associated with pursuing CNA certifications, which can often prevent qualified candidates from gainful employment. Establishing this program to support on-the-job training for prospective CNAs will enable assisted living and memory care communities

to recruit new staff who want the additional education but cannot personally afford the cost.

The Florida Senior Living Institute, in partnership with the American Red Cross, will deploy CNA training programs throughout the state at participating senior living communities using a blended learning approach to train employees on the job and place them into critical care roles quicker.

Passage of SB 988 - In-person Visitation

During the Covid pandemic, Florida’s ALFs were under an emergency order that limited who may enter their facilities. Even now, AHCA recommends that ALFs monitor and follow CDC guidance regarding visitor screening and entry.

Throughout the pandemic, FSLA championed visitation as assisted living operators saw firsthand every day the toll that isolation from family members and friends was taking on seniors, including serving on Governor DeSantis’ Task Force on the Safe and Limited Re-Opening of Long-Term Care Facilities.

In response to the stories of families being unable to visit their loved ones in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and hospitals during the COVID-19 surges, the legislature this year passed SB 988, the “No Patient Left Alone Act.”

This bill, in part, requires long term care providers to develop and establish visitation policies and procedures that include infection control, screening and education policies for visitors.

More specifically, the policies must include recommendations on the length of visits or number of visitors allowed, resident designation of in-person essential caregivers, and for in-person visitation in most circumstances. These policies and procedures must meet or exceed the standards in existing residents bill of rights statutes.

ALFs that do not have visitation policies will have to move quickly once this bill becomes law, so stay tuned for more information from FSLA in the coming days.

Passage of HB 469 - Patient Care in Health Care Facilities

Current law authorizes home health aides and CNAs to perform certain tasks in providing assistance to ALF residents with self-administration of medication that home health aides and CNAs are not currently authorized to provide if they work for a home health agency.

This can cause confusion as to which tasks a home health aide or CNA may provide when they are employed by a home health agency but they are working in an ALF.

HB 469 allows these aides and assistants in a home health setting to assist a patient with the same kinds of self-administration of medication tasks that are allowed in an ALF.

The bill also indirectly creates the potential for future expansion for the scope of these aides and assistants by creating a new category of assistance in law – called “other tasks” – in addition to assistance with self-administration of medication.

Outcome of Other Bills of Interest

As previously indicated, FSLA tracked and monitored hundreds of bills. Some other bills of interest that didn't quite make it across the finish line include:

Dementia-related Staff Training - HB 1507/SB 1572: The bill would have required all employees of nursing homes, home health agencies, nurse registries, homemaker and companion service providers, ALFs, adult family-care homes, and adult day care centers, to complete one hour of initial ADRD training within 30 days of beginning employment. The bill would have also filled in the gaps of facility types not currently required to complete additional training in the first year of employment by requiring employees of standard ALFs, nurse registries, homemaker and companion service providers, and adult family -care homes who provide direct care to individuals with ADRD to complete the additional training. The bill would have required all individuals currently employed, contracted, or referred to provide services when the bill becomes effective to complete the required training by July 1, 2025. Individuals newly employed, contracted, or referred to provide services on or after the effective date of the bill must complete the training within the timeframes provided in the bill. FSLA was part of a coalition of long-term care providers that negotiated this bill with the Alzheimer's' Association in order to alleviate unintended consequences; however, the changes were not finalized in time for the legislation to pass.
Quality of Long-Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund - HB 6035/SB 646: The bill would have removed the requirement that punitive damages awarded in a claim against a nursing home or an ALF be split equally between the claimant and the Trust Fund. The bill would make conforming changes to s. 400.0239, F.S., to remove, as a source of funding for the Trust Fund, the proceeds generated from punitive damages awards. This is the trust fund that FSLA is utilizing in partnership with AHCA, to provide an infection prevention train-the-training grant program.
Medication Technicians - HB 1403/SB 836: This bill passed the House of Representatives but stalled out in the Florida Senate. The bill would have designated unlicensed ALF staff as “medication technicians” and would have authorized these staff to provide assistance with a resident’s self-administration of a point-of-care device. The bill would have required AHCA to establish minimum requirements for medication technician training, which would have addressed:
Infection control;
Safe handling and use of point-of-care devices;
Communicating with case managers and health care providers;
Certain standard of care protocols;
Identification of nursing standards; and
Methods of assisting residents with the self-administration of medications.
Damages Recoverable by Parents of an Adult Child in Medical Negligence Actions - HB 6011/SB 262: The bill would have allowed a parent to recover damages for mental pain and suffering in a lawsuit against a health care provider whose medical negligence causes the death of an adult child due to medical negligence, provided that the adult child does not have a spouse or a child under 25 years of age.
Fees In Lieu of Security Deposits - HB 537SB 884: The bill would have authorized a landlord to offer a tenant the option to pay a fee in lieu of the security deposit. If a landlord offered this option, the landlord would have to various written notifications to the tenant.
You can read FSLA's full session report here.

And remember, FSLA doesn't back down! As always, FSLA continues to fight for your interests!