Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 320 - Motor Vehicle Licenses

• Accepted: means that the agency has found that a report or data submitted by a health care facility or a health care provider contains all schedules and data required by the agency and has been prepared in the format specified by the agency, and otherwise conforms to applicable rule or Florida Hospital Uniform Reporting System manual requirements regarding reports in effect at the time such report was submitted, and the data are mathematically reasonable and accurate. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Adjusted admission: means the sum of acute and intensive care admissions divided by the ratio of inpatient revenues generated from acute, intensive, ambulatory, and ancillary patient services to gross revenues. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration, which is the licensing agency under this part. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Alcohol or chemical dependency treatment center: means an organization licensed under chapter 397. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Ambulatory care center: means an organization which employs or contracts with licensed health care professionals to provide diagnosis or treatment services predominantly on a walk-in basis and the organization holds itself out as providing care on a walk-in basis. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Ambulatory surgical center: means a facility licensed as an ambulatory surgical center under chapter 395. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Anatomical board: means the anatomical board of the state headquartered at the University of Florida Health Science Center. See Florida Statutes 406.49
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Applicant: means an individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, or governmental entity that submits an application for a license to the agency. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Birth center: means an organization licensed under…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
• Cardiac catheterization laboratory: means a freestanding facility that employs or contracts with licensed health care professionals to provide diagnostic or therapeutic services for cardiac conditions such as cardiac catheterization or balloon angioplasty. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Certification: means certification as a Medicare or Medicaid provider of the services that require licensure, or certification pursuant to the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA). See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Change of ownership: means :
  (a) An event in which the licensee sells or otherwise transfers its ownership to a different individual or entity as evidenced by a change in federal employer identification number or taxpayer identification number; or
  (b) An event in which 51 percent or more of the ownership, shares, membership, or controlling interest of a licensee is in any manner transferred or otherwise assigned. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Client: means any person receiving services from a provider listed in…. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means any person other than a person who administers health activities, is a member of the governing body of a health care facility, provides health services, has a fiduciary interest in a health facility or other health agency or its affiliated entities, or has a material financial interest in the rendering of health services. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Continuing care facility: means a facility licensed under chapter 651. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Controlling interest: means :
  (a) The applicant or licensee;
  (b) A person or entity that serves as an officer of, is on the board of directors of, or has a 5-percent or greater ownership interest in the applicant or licensee; or
  (c) A person or entity that serves as an officer of, is on the board of directors of, or has a 5-percent or greater ownership interest in the management company or other entity, related or unrelated, with which the applicant or licensee contracts to manage the provider. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Critical access hospital: means a hospital that meets the definition of "critical access hospital" in…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Cross-subsidization: means that the revenues from one type of hospital service are sufficiently higher than the costs of providing such service as to offset some of the costs of providing another type of service in the hospital. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• deductions from revenue: means reductions from gross revenue resulting from inability to collect payment of charges. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Protection. See Florida Statutes 403.281
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Diagnostic-imaging center: means a freestanding outpatient facility that provides specialized services for the diagnosis of a disease by examination and also provides radiological services. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freestanding: means that a health facility bills and receives revenue which is not directly subject to the hospital assessment for the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund as described in…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Freestanding radiation therapy center: means a facility where treatment is provided through the use of radiation therapy machines that are registered under…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Gross revenue: means the sum of daily hospital service charges, ambulatory service charges, ancillary service charges, and other operating revenue. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care facility: means an ambulatory surgical center, a hospice, a nursing home, a hospital, a diagnostic-imaging center, a freestanding or hospital-based therapy center, a clinical laboratory, a home health agency, a cardiac catheterization laboratory, a medical equipment supplier, an alcohol or chemical dependency treatment center, a physical rehabilitation center, a lithotripsy center, an ambulatory care center, a birth center, or a nursing home component licensed under chapter 400 within a continuing care facility licensed under chapter 651. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Health care provider: means a health care professional licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 460, chapter 461, chapter 463, chapter 464, chapter 465, chapter 466, part I, part III, part IV, part V, or part X of chapter 468, chapter 483, chapter 484, chapter 486, chapter 490, or chapter 491. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Health insurer: means any insurance company authorized to transact health insurance in the state, any insurance company authorized to transact health insurance or casualty insurance in the state that is offering a minimum premium plan or stop-loss coverage for any person or entity providing health care benefits, any self-insurance plan as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Home health agency: means an organization licensed under part III of chapter 400. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Hospice: means an organization licensed under part IV of chapter 400. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Hospital: means a health care institution licensed by the Agency for Health Care Administration as a hospital under chapter 395. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Indigent person: means a person whose family income does not exceed 100 percent of the current federal poverty guidelines prescribed for the family's household size by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. See Florida Statutes 406.49
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means any permit, registration, certificate, or license issued by the agency. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Licensee: means an individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, governmental entity, or other entity that is issued a permit, registration, certificate, or license by the agency. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lithotripsy center: means a freestanding facility that employs or contracts with licensed health care professionals to provide diagnosis or treatment services using electro-hydraulic shock waves. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local health council: means the agency defined in…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Low-risk provider: means a nonresidential provider, including a nurse registry, a home medical equipment provider, or a health care clinic. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Market basket index: means the Florida hospital input price index (FHIPI), which is a statewide market basket index used to measure inflation in hospital input prices weighted for the Florida-specific experience which uses multistate regional and state-specific price measures, when available. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Medical equipment supplier: means an organization that provides medical equipment and supplies used by health care providers and health care facilities in the diagnosis or treatment of disease. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Moratorium: means a prohibition on the acceptance of new clients. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• New hospital: means a hospital in its initial year of operation as a licensed hospital and does not include any facility which has been in existence as a licensed hospital, regardless of changes in ownership, for over 1 calendar year. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nontransplant anatomical donation organization: means a tissue bank or other organization that facilitates nontransplant anatomical donation, including referral, obtaining informed consent or authorization, acquisition, traceability, transport, assessing donor acceptability, preparation, packaging, labeling, storage, release, evaluating intended use, distribution, and final disposition of nontransplant anatomical donations. See Florida Statutes 406.49
• Nursing home: means a facility licensed under…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office of Economic and Demographic Research: means an entity designated by joint rule of the Legislature or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Operating expenses: means total expenses excluding income taxes. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Other operating revenue: means all revenue generated from hospital operations other than revenue directly associated with patient care. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes any public or private corporation. See Florida Statutes 403.281
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Physical rehabilitation center: means an organization that employs or contracts with health care professionals licensed under part I or part III of chapter 468 or chapter 486 to provide speech, occupational, or physical therapy services on an outpatient or ambulatory basis. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Prospective payment arrangement: means a financial agreement negotiated between a hospital and an insurer, health maintenance organization, preferred provider organization, or other third-party payor which contains, at a minimum, the elements provided for in…. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Provider: means any activity, service, agency, or facility regulated by the agency and listed in…. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Relative: means an individual who is the father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandfather, grandson, granddaughter, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister of a patient or client. See Florida Statutes 408.803
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Rural hospital: means an acute care hospital licensed under chapter 395, having 100 or fewer licensed beds and an emergency room, and which is:
  (a) The sole provider within a county with a population density of no greater than 100 persons per square mile;
  (b) An acute care hospital, in a county with a population density of no greater than 100 persons per square mile, which is at least 30 minutes of travel time, on normally traveled roads under normal traffic conditions, from another acute care hospital within the same county;
  (c) A hospital supported by a tax district or subdistrict whose boundaries encompass a population of 100 persons or fewer per square mile;
  (d) A hospital with a service area that has a population of 100 persons or fewer per square mile. See Florida Statutes 408.07
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 409.016
• service area: means the fewest number of zip codes that account for 75 percent of the hospital's discharges for the most recent 5-year period, based on information available from the hospital inpatient discharge database in the Florida Center for Health Information and Transparency at the Agency for Health Care Administration; or