SB 170 Florida Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Quality of Care in Nursing Homes

Summary

Quality of Care in Nursing Homes; Reviving, reenacting, and amending a provision relating to consumer satisfaction surveys; requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to develop user-friendly consumer satisfaction surveys for nursing home facilities; requiring medical directors of nursing home facilities to obtain, or to be in the process of obtaining, certain qualifications by a specified date; requiring nursing home facilities to conduct biennial patient safety culture surveys; requiring nursing home facilities that maintain certain electronic health records to make available certain data to the agency’s Florida Health Information Exchange program for a specified purpose; exempting nursing homes operated by state agencies from certain financial reporting requirements, etc.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action Jun 16, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

S 170 c1 → S 170 c2 · 6 edits

MODERATE

This revised bill expands consumer satisfaction survey requirements for nursing homes, adds new financial reporting exemptions for state-operated facilities, introduces administrative fines for late filings, and requires a comprehensive study of other states' quality incentive programs. The changes aim to improve transparency, enforce compliance, and enhance quality measurement in nursing home care.

Scope change

The bill now explicitly exempts nursing homes operated by state agencies from certain financial reporting requirements and adds provisions for third-party vendor studies of other states' incentive programs.

REQUIREMENT

Consumer satisfaction surveys must now be conducted by the agency or its contractor with specific protocols for validity and respondent protection, and family members/guardians must be surveyed directly.

The agency must now contract with a third-party vendor to conduct a comprehensive study of nursing home quality incentive programs in other states, with a final report due by December 1, 2025.

Quality Incentive Program payment methodology must be revised to include consumer satisfaction survey results as a quality measure after sufficient data is collected.

ELIGIBILITY

Nursing homes operated by state agencies are now explicitly exempt from certain financial reporting requirements that apply to other facilities.

ENFORCEMENT

New administrative fines of $10,000 per violation are established for nursing homes that fail to file required financial reports on time, with provisions for mitigation.

TIMELINE

Medical directors must obtain certification by January 1, 2026, and the agency must submit annual reports on Quality Incentive Program payments to state leadership.

S 170 Filed → S 170 c1 · 7 edits

MODERATE

This bill revives and amends Florida Statute 400.0225 to establish consumer satisfaction surveys for nursing homes, requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to develop user-friendly surveys based on National Quality Forum standards. It adds requirements for medical directors to obtain certification by January 1, 2026, mandates biennial patient safety culture surveys, and introduces administrative fines for facilities that fail to submit required financial reports on time. The bill also expands data sharing requirements for nursing homes using electronic health records and clarifies enforcement procedures.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of nursing home oversight by adding new survey requirements, medical director certification standards, and financial reporting enforcement mechanisms that were not previously codified in this manner.

REQUIREMENT

Requires nursing home facilities to conduct biennial patient safety culture surveys using the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Survey on Patient Safety Culture, with results submitted to the agency.

Requires nursing homes maintaining certified electronic health records to share admission, transfer, and discharge data with the Florida Health Information Exchange program.

Mandates that nursing home facilities make aggregated consumer satisfaction survey data available on the agency's website in a manner that allows comparison between facilities.

TIMELINE

Sets a January 1, 2026 deadline for medical directors of nursing homes to obtain certification as a certified medical director from the American Medical Directors Association or equivalent credential.

ENFORCEMENT

Establishes a $10,000 administrative fine per violation for nursing homes or home offices that fail to file required financial reports on time, with provisions for mitigation factors.

DEFINITION

Clarifies that the term 'violation' for financial reporting purposes means failing to file reports on or before the due date, with subsequent 10-day periods counting as separate violations.

TECHNICAL

Adds language exempting health care facilities from administrative fines under 408.061 if they have already been fined for the same violation under other provisions.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 9, 2025

How they voted

37–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 38

Apr 9, 2025

D Democratic10

10 Yea

100% Yea

I Independent1

1 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican27

26 Yea 1

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 9, 2025

Upper · Passed

CS passed; YEAS 37 NAYS 0

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Favorable by- Appropriations; YEAS 18 NAYS 0

upper

Mar 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations, 04/03/25, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building --Meeting cancelled

upper

Mar 28, 2025

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations, 04/02/25, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building

upper

Mar 28, 2025

Upper · Passed

Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)

upper

Mar 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

CS/CS by Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; YEAS 10 NAYS 0

upper

Mar 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, 03/26/25, 1:00 pm, 412 Knott Building

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

Now in Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

upper

Feb 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Health Policy, 03/04/25, 2:00 pm, 412 Knott Building

upper

Feb 25, 2025

Committee

Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; Appropriations

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors