Continuing Education for Licensure Renewal

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Board of Nursing Home Administrators

RULE NO: RULE TITLE
64B10-15.001: Continuing Education for Licensure Renewal

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol.31,No.40, October 7, 2005 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

The Board held a public hearing on this Rule on July 8, 2005, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and determined changes to the Rule should be made.

(1) through (2) No changes.

(3) A newly licensed Nursing Home Administrator shall not be required to complete a continuing education requirement prior to the first renewal of his license, but it shall be required prior to any subsequent renewal.

(4) During the license renewal period, the Department will send to each license-holder at the last address of record, a notice for renewal. Failure to receive any notification does not relieve the continuing education requirements or waive the license expiration date. The application for renewal shall include a statement in which the licensee shall declare that during the biennium preceding renewal, he completed the required hours of approved continuing education.

(3)(5) Each licensee shall be responsible for maintaining the documentation as may be necessary to prove his/her compliance with the continuing education requirements for a period of four years during the current renewal period and the one immediately preceding and shall provide such documentation to the Department upon request.

(4)(6) The Department shall audit at random a number of licensees as necessary to ensure that these continuing education requirements are met.

(5)(7)(a) Licensees shall include either the hours obtained from attendance at the HIV/AIDS course required under Section 456.033(1) FS., or a course in end of life care and palliative health care that may be taken in lieu of the HIV/AIDS course pursuant to Section 456.033(9) FS., as part of the hours required for biennial renewal.

(b) As a condition of biennial licensure renewal, each licensee must participate in a Board approved continuing education course on medical errors as required by Section 456.013, F.S. The course shall not be less than two (2) contact hours and must contain the following components: Root-cause analysis; error reduction and prevention; and patient safety.

(6)(8) A licensee who attends a meeting of a national association involved in the establishment of standards of practice for nursing home administrators or the regulation of nursing home administratorsions may apply to the Board for approval of that activity as a continuing education activity. In order to receive said approval, the licensee must submit a written statement to the Board within 60 days of attendanceing or participationing in said conference, stating the name of the organization conducting the meeting, dates of attendance, and a brief statement as to how the course that activity contributed to the enhancement of the licensee’s skills, or otherwise enabled the licensee to keep abreast of changes affecting the practice of nursing home administration. The Board may approve up to 5 hours of continuing education per year in one year under this paragraph.

(7)(9) Three hours of continuing education may be obtained by the following:

(a) Attending one full day of a board meeting in compliance with the following:

1. The licensee must sign in with the Executive Director/Program Operations Administrator of the board before the meeting day begins.

2. The licensee must remain in continuous attendance.

3. The licensee must sign out with the Executive Director/Program Operations Administrator at the end of the meeting. A licensee shall receive continuing education credit in risk management for attending a board meeting at which another licensee is disciplined. A licensee may also be granted continuing education hours if he or she serves as a volunteer expert witness for the department in a disciplinary case, or if he or she serves as a member of a probable cause panel after the expiration of the Board member’s term. A licensee who attends a meeting of the Board of Nursing Home Administrators may receive 3 hours of continuing education in one year for attending said Board meeting. Licensees who are attending the meeting because of pending disciplinary action, and members of the Board, are not eligible to receive credit under this paragraph. In order to receive credit for these continuing education hours, the licensee must deliver a statement, in writing, to the senior staff member present at said Board meeting, of his intention to claim continuing education hours under this paragraph. A maximum of three (3) hours of continuing education credits in risk management may be earned each biennium by licensees in the following manner:

(b)(4) Serve as a volunteer expert witness for the department in a disciplinary case.

(c)(5) Serve as a member of a probable cause panel after expiration of the Board’s member’s term(s).

(10) In addition to the continuing education credits authorized above, a maximum of three.

(3) hours of credit in the area of risk management may be earned each biennium in the following manner.

(a) Attend a board meeting where a licensee is disciplined.

(b) Serve as a volunteer expert witness for the department in a disciplinary case.

(c) Serve as a member of a probable cause panel after expiration of the Board’s member’s term(s).

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Joe Baker, Jr., Executive Director, Board of Nursing Home Administrators/MQA, 4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin #C07, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3257