Florida Ends Certificate Of Need Requirements For Specialty Medical, Rehabilitation & Psychiatric Hospitals

On July 1, 2021, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) stopped requiring a certificate of need (CON) review for specialty medical, rehabilitation, and psychiatric and addiction treatment hospitals. AHCA also stopped requiring a CON review for Class IV hospitals, which are specialty hospitals restricted to offering Intensive Residential Treatment Facility Services for Children. Initial licensure and Medicare and Medicaid enrollment are still required. Changes of ownership still need to be approved.

Florida first introduced its CON program in 1968. A CON was previously required for any new, converted, expanded, or otherwise significantly modified health care facility, including hospitals . . .