The department is authorized to designate and monitor receiving facilities, treatment facilities, and receiving systems and may suspend or withdraw such designation for failure to comply with this part and rules adopted under this part. The department may issue a conditional designation for up to 60 days to allow the implementation of corrective measures. Unless designated by the department, facilities are not permitted to hold or treat involuntary patients under this part.

(1) RECEIVING FACILITY.–The department may designate any community facility as a receiving facility. Any other facility within the state, including a private facility or a federal facility, may be so designated by the department, provided that such designation is agreed to by the governing body or authority of the facility.
(2) TREATMENT FACILITY.–The department may designate any state-owned, state-operated, or state-supported facility as a state treatment facility. A civil patient shall not be admitted to a state treatment facility without previously undergoing a transfer evaluation. Before the close of the state’s case-in-chief in a hearing for involuntary placement, the state may establish that the transfer evaluation was performed and the document was properly executed by providing the court with a copy of the transfer evaluation. The court may not consider the substantive information in the transfer evaluation unless the evaluator testifies at the hearing. Any other facility, including a private facility or a federal facility, may be designated as a treatment facility by the department, provided that such designation is agreed to by the appropriate governing body or authority of the facility.
(3) PRIVATE FACILITIES.–Private facilities designated as receiving and treatment facilities by the department may provide examination and treatment of involuntary patients, as well as voluntary patients, and are subject to all the provisions of this part.
(4) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.–

(a) A facility designated as a public receiving or treatment facility under this section shall report to the department on an annual basis the following data, unless these data are currently being submitted to the Agency for Health Care Administration:

1. Number of licensed beds.
2. Number of contract days.
3. Number of admissions by payor class and diagnoses.
4. Number of bed days by payor class.
5. Average length of stay by payor class.
6. Total revenues by payor class.
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 394.461

  • 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.
  • Community facility: means a community service provider that contracts with the department to furnish substance abuse or mental health services under part IV of this chapter. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Department: means the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Facility: means any hospital, community facility, public or private facility, or receiving or treatment facility providing for the evaluation, diagnosis, care, treatment, training, or hospitalization of persons who appear to have or who have been diagnosed as having a mental illness or substance abuse impairment. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • 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.
  • Mental illness: means an impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control of one's actions or of the ability to perceive or understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes with the person's ability to meet the ordinary demands of living. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Patient: means any person, with or without a co-occurring substance abuse disorder, who is held or accepted for mental health treatment. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Private facility: means a hospital or facility operated by a for-profit or not-for-profit corporation or association which provides mental health or substance abuse services and is not a public facility. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Receiving facility: means a public or private facility or hospital designated by the department to receive and hold or refer, as appropriate, involuntary patients under emergency conditions for mental health or substance abuse evaluation and to provide treatment or transportation to the appropriate service provider. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Transfer evaluation: means the process by which a person who is being considered for placement in a state treatment facility is evaluated for appropriateness of admission to such facility. See Florida Statutes 394.455
  • Treatment facility: means a state-owned, state-operated, or state-supported hospital, center, or clinic designated by the department for extended treatment and hospitalization, beyond that provided for by a receiving facility, of persons who have a mental illness, including facilities of the United States Government, and any private facility designated by the department when rendering such services to a person pursuant to the provisions of this part. See Florida Statutes 394.455
(b) For the purposes of this subsection, “payor class” means Medicare, Medicare HMO, Medicaid, Medicaid HMO, private-pay health insurance, private-pay health maintenance organization, private preferred provider organization, the Department of Children and Families, other government programs, self-pay patients, and charity care.
(c) The data required under this subsection shall be submitted to the department no later than 90 days following the end of the facility’s fiscal year.
(d) The department shall issue an annual report based on the data required pursuant to this subsection. The report shall include individual facilities’ data, as well as statewide totals. The report shall be posted on the department’s website.
(5) RECEIVING SYSTEM.–The department shall designate as a receiving system one or more facilities serving a defined geographic area developed pursuant to s. 394.4573 which is responsible for assessment and evaluation, both voluntary and involuntary, and treatment, stabilization, or triage for patients who have a mental illness, a substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders. Any transportation plans developed pursuant to s. 394.462 must support the operation of the receiving system.
(6) RULES.–The department may adopt rules relating to:

(a) Procedures and criteria for receiving and evaluating facility applications for designation, which may include onsite facility inspection and evaluation of an applicant’s licensing status and performance history, as well as consideration of local service needs.
(b) Minimum standards consistent with this part that a facility must meet and maintain in order to be designated as a receiving or treatment facility and procedures for monitoring continued adherence to such standards.
(c) Procedures and criteria for designating receiving systems which may include consideration of the adequacy of services provided by facilities within the receiving system to meet the needs of the geographic area using available resources.
(d) Procedures for receiving complaints against a designated facility or designated receiving system and for initiating inspections and investigations of facilities or receiving systems alleged to have violated the provisions of this part or rules adopted under this part.
(e) Procedures and criteria for the suspension or withdrawal of designation as a receiving facility or receiving system.
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