Proposed State Health Care Data Revolutionizes Workforce Reporting
TL/DR –
The DeSantis administration in Florida is planning to amend its licensure regulations to require long-term care providers to submit healthcare workforce data to the state. The proposed amendment, published by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), would require nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, and homemaker/companion service providers to include data on pay, benefit, vacancy, and turnover rates for registered nurses and direct care workers in their licensure application forms. The law also requires these facilities to report contributing factors behind staff turnovers and the AHCA to develop a survey to capture this information, though it is unclear whether the agency has been publicly posting the collected information as required by law.
DeSantis Administration Proposes New Rules for Long-Term Care Providers
The DeSantis administration plans to adjust its licensure regulations, necessitating that long-term care providers deliver health care workforce data to the state.
The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) proposes a licensure rule amendment directing nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, and homemaker service providers to provide data on registered nurses and direct care workers’ pay, benefits, vacancies and turnover rates in their licensure application forms. The law mandates these facilities to report factors contributing to staff turnovers to the state.
AHCA has been urged to design a survey to capture this necessary information. From January 1, 2021, these facilities are required to submit this data during licensure renewal applications. The law prohibits AHCA from renewing licenses of facilities that fail to report this data.
More than two years post-mandate, AHCA issued an advisory to impacted long-term care providers on June 27, 2023, briefing them about the survey and online licensure process requirements. AHCA announced they have started collecting data from provider surveys since issuing the alert.
However, it remains unclear whether this data, as required by law, has been publicly displayed by the agency.
The reporting requirement, enforced under HB 607 in 2020, aims to comprehend the health care workforce in long term care settings better. A legislative staff analysis of the bill anticipates an increased demand for home health aides and nursing assistants by 34% by 2025, but a turnover rate between 45 and 66%.
The high turnover rate is attributed to various factors, including compensation, lack of full employment, low job satisfaction, and family caregiving obligations, adding to job stress and missed work days.
AHCA published the proposed rule amendment as the Legislature gears up to discuss healthcare workforce issues in the 2024 Session starting on January 9, 2024.
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