Christine Jordan Sexton
The state on Friday approved certificate of needs for 34 providers to operate 2,613 nursing home beds, rehab centers and hospices in 25 different counties across the state.
The beds are the first new nursing home beds the state has approved in 14 years since implementing a moratorium in 2001. The beds are being built in order to deal with the state’s growing Baby Boomer population who are expected to require nursing and hospice care as they age.
The Florida Health Care Association, which represents the state’s nursing home industry, estimates that beds could pump upward of $500 million into the economy, according to Tony Marshall, senior director of reimbursement for the association.
The figure includes the costs of construction, from architectural costs to bricks and mortar, to the new positions that will be required to operate the facilities.
Marshall said the new construction could begin as early as this year. The beds are expected to be operational in 2017.
There will be another opportunity for investors and providers to bid on nursing home beds after the agency publishes “need” April 3, 2015.
Three applications were “partially approved” and another 67 applications were rejected by the state. Three applications were withdrawn.
