To prevent the spread of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities, the Agency for Health Care Administration issued Emergency Rule 59AER20-2 and Emergency Rule 59AER20-3. These rules require nursing homes and assisted living facilities to grant access to the Florida Department of Health or their authorized representative for the purpose infection prevention and control, including mandated COVID-19 testing of both on-duty and off-duty staff when arranged by the Department.
“The challenge we face is mitigating and containing the spread of this deadly virus in our long-term care facilities,” said AHCA Secretary Mary Mayhew. “To guard against the rapid spread of COVID-19, I am issuing emergency rules for our nursing homes and assisted living facilities requiring that every facility allow access to the Department of Health or their authorized representative for mandatory testing for all facility staff by the Florida Department of Health during testing visits. These rules will also require every facility to allow access to the Department of Health or their authorized representative for infection prevention and control purposes.”
To see the emergency rules, please click here: Emergency Rule 59AER20-2 and Emergency Rule 59AER20-3.
Agency resources related to COVID-19 can be accessed on the Agency’s COVID-19 alerts for facilities and Medicaid providers website: http://ahca.myflorida.com/covid-19_alerts.shtml.
The Agency for Health Care Administration is committed to better health care for all Floridians. The Agency administers Florida’s Medicaid program, licenses and regulates more than 44,000 health care facilities and 53 health plans, and publishes health care data and statistics at www.FloridaHealthFinder.gov. Additional information about Agency initiatives is available via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
