Gabrielle Russon
The Legislature passed a bill Monday aiming to make it easier for aging veterans and their families to get beds at state veterans’ nursing homes.
“I think this fulfills a great need, and we have many more beds that are needed in Florida,” said Sen. Keith Truenow, a U.S. Air Force veteran who sponsored the Senate version of the bill before the final vote.
With a 36-0 vote, the Senate approved HB 797, substituting it for Truenow’s SB 788.
Last week, the House passed HB 797 with a 115-0 vote.
The bill would give authority to the director at the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs (FDVA) to create or update the beds designed for veterans and their spouses under certain conditions. That means a Certificate of Need (CON) would no longer be needed first from the Agency for Health Care Administration.
“The CON program is a regulatory process that requires certain health care providers to obtain state approval before offering certain new or expanded services,” the Senate staff analysis said. “The CON program currently regulates hospices, freestanding inpatient hospice facilities, skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled.”
The new exemption would be allowed at “State veterans’ nursing homes operated by or on behalf of the FDVA that are constructed with state or federal funds and where the federal government pays a per diem rate not to exceed one-half of the cost of the veterans’ care.”
The other criteria in place for the exemption to apply says, “The consolidation or combination of licensed nursing homes or the transfer of beds between licensed nursing homes that are for the sole use of veterans, their spouses, or surviving spouses, by nursing homes with any shared controlled interest and if the site of the relocation is not more than 100 miles from the original location.”
The FDVA could create rules to administer the proposed changes, according to the Senate staff analysis which found the bill doesn’t have any fiscal impact on the state. However, the changes “may have an indeterminant positive fiscal impact” on those certain nursing homes.
The FDVA runs eight skilled nursing facilities in the state. They are located in Daytona Beach, Orlando, Land O’Lakes, Pembroke Pines, Panama City, Port Charlotte, Port St. Lucie, and St. Augustine.
