Legislative Alert: Florida Certification for PHPs

Sep 27, 2018

From SoberLawNews.com:

On August 22, 2018, outgoing Department of Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll signed an Administrative order declaring that the residential component of a "Day or Night Treatment with Community Housing" license (commonly referred to as "PHP" or "Partial Hospitalization") does not have to obtain certification from the Florida Association of Recovery Residences ("FARR").

Amethyst Recovery Center filed the "Order on Petition for Declaratory Statement", which states, "A provider licensed for day or night treatment with community housing is not required to comply with the voluntary certification requirements outlined in sections 397.487 and 397.4871, F.S., in order to operate the community housing portion of its license. The standards for this licensing component are found in Rule 65D-30.0081, F.A.C."

Secretary Carroll made the following conclusions:

• "The definition of day or night treatment with community housing differs from the definition of recovery residence";
• "A recovery residence is not a licensable service component and is not monitored by the Department";
• "To require day or night treatment with community housing licensed facilities to have the licensed community housing part also certified in order to maintain their license or make referrals within that one licensed component would not appear to be aligned with statute and would not appear to be the referrals that are intended to be restricted under section 397.4873(1), F.S.";
• "[T]his requirement would also be duplicative as this component already has license standards outlined and monitored by the Department"; and
• "Even if the community housing part of day or night treatment with community housing falls within the definition of a recovery residence, the community housing offered is an integral part of the Petitioner’s licensed company."

If you operate in Florida, you will definitely want to keep updated as to the efforts to adopt the national housing standards to the state.

For more information on the current laws governing treatment programs and sober living facilities in Florida, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions for the state.