Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 400 > Part III - Home Health Services

• Administrator: means a direct employee, as defined in subsection (10), who is a licensed physician, physician assistant, or registered nurse licensed to practice in this state or an individual having at least 1 year of supervisory or administrative experience in home health care or in a facility licensed under chapter 395, under part II of this chapter, or under part I of chapter 429. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Admission: means a decision by the home health agency, during or after an evaluation visit to the patient's home, that there is reasonable expectation that the patient's medical, nursing, and social needs for skilled care can be adequately met by the agency in the patient's place of residence. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Advanced practice registered nurse: means a person licensed in this state to practice professional nursing and certified in advanced or specialized nursing practice, as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Approved training program: means a course of training approved by the agency, in consultation with the Board of Nursing, to train a family caregiver as a home health aide for medically fragile children. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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}
• Board: means the Board of Pilot Commissioners. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• certificate: means the document issued by the board under seal of the department to pilots. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• Certified nursing assistant: means any person who has been issued a certificate under part II of chapter 464. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Client: means an elderly, handicapped, or convalescent individual who receives companion services or homemaker services in the individual's home or place of residence. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• Department: means the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Direct employee: means an employee for whom one of the following entities pays withholding taxes: a home health agency; a management company that has a contract to manage the home health agency on a day-to-day basis; or an employee leasing company that has a contract with the home health agency to handle the payroll and payroll taxes for the home health agency. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Director of nursing: means a registered nurse who is a direct employee, as defined in subsection (10), of the agency and who is a graduate of an approved school of nursing and is licensed in this state; who has at least 1 year of supervisory experience as a registered nurse; and who is responsible for overseeing the delivery of professional nursing and home health aide services of the agency. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Eligible relative: means a patient 21 years of age or younger who has an underlying physical, mental, or cognitive impairment that prevents him or her from safely living independently, is eligible to receive skilled care or respite care services under the Medicaid program, and is related to his or her family caregiver. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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.
• Fair market value: means the value in arms length transactions, consistent with the price that an asset would bring as the result of bona fide bargaining between well-informed buyers and sellers who are not otherwise in a position to generate business for the other party, or the compensation that would be included in a service agreement as the result of bona fide bargaining between well-informed parties to the agreement who are not otherwise in a position to generate business for the other party, on the date of acquisition of the asset or at the time of the service agreement. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Family caregiver: means a person who provides or intends to provide significant personal care to an eligible relative. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Home health agency: means a person that provides one or more home health services. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Home health aide: means a person who is trained or qualified, as provided by rule, and who provides hands-on personal care, performs simple procedures as an extension of therapy or nursing services, assists in ambulation or exercises, assists in administering medications as permitted in rule and for which the person has received training established by the agency under this part, or performs tasks delegated to him or her under chapter 464. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Home health aide for medically fragile children: means a family caregiver who meets the qualifications specified in this part and who performs tasks delegated to him or her under chapter 464 while caring for an eligible relative, and provides care relating to activities of daily living, including those associated with personal care; maintaining mobility; nutrition and hydration; toileting and elimination; assistive devices; safety and cleanliness; data gathering; reporting abnormal signs and symptoms; postmortem care; patient socialization and reality orientation; end-of-life care; cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency care; residents' or patients' rights; documentation of services performed; infection control; safety and emergency procedures; hygiene, grooming, skin care, and pressure sore prevention; wound care; portable oxygen use and safety and other respiratory procedures; tracheostomy care; enteral care and therapy; peripheral intravenous assistive activities and alternative feeding methods; and any other tasks delegated to the family caregiver under chapter 464. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Home health services: means health and medical services and medical supplies furnished to an individual in the individual's home or place of residence. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Home infusion therapy: means the administration of intravenous pharmacological or nutritional products to a patient in his or her home. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Homemaker: means a person who performs household chores that include housekeeping, meal planning and preparation, shopping assistance, and routine household activities for an elderly, handicapped, or convalescent individual. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Immediate family member: means a husband or wife; a birth or adoptive parent, child, or sibling; a stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, or stepsister; a father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; a grandparent or grandchild; or a spouse of a grandparent or grandchild. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Medical director: means a physician who is a volunteer with, or who receives remuneration from, a home health agency. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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.
• Nurse registry: means any person that procures, offers, promises, or attempts to secure health-care-related contracts for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, home health aides, companions, or homemakers, who are compensated by fees as independent contractors, including, but not limited to, contracts for the provision of services to patients and contracts to provide private duty or staffing services to health care facilities licensed under chapter 395, this chapter, or chapter 429 or other business entities. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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
• 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.
• Patient: means any person who receives home health services in his or her home or place of residence. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• 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 care: means assistance to a patient in the activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, eating, or personal hygiene, and assistance in physical transfer, ambulation, and in administering medications as permitted by rule. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Physician: means a person licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 460, or chapter 461. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Physician assistant: means a person who is a graduate of an approved program or its equivalent, or meets standards approved by the boards, and is licensed to perform medical services delegated by the supervising physician, as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Pilot: means a licensed state pilot or a certificated deputy pilot. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• Pilotage: means the compensation fixed by the Pilotage Rate Review Committee which is payable by a vessel, its owners, agents, charterers, or consignees to one or more pilots in the port where piloting is performed. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• Piloting: means the acts of pilots in conducting vessels through the pilotage waters of the state. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• 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.
• Port: means any place in the state into which vessels enter or depart and includes, without limitation, Fernandina, Nassau Inlet, Jacksonville, St. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• 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.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Remuneration: means any payment or other benefit made directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Satellite office: means a secondary office of a nurse registry established pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• sitter: means a person who spends time with or cares for an elderly, handicapped, or convalescent individual and accompanies such individual on trips and outings and may prepare and serve meals to such individual. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Skilled care: means nursing services or therapeutic services required by law to be delivered by a health care professional who is licensed under part I of chapter 464; part I, part III, or part V of chapter 468; or chapter 486 and who is employed by or under contract with a licensed home health agency or is referred by a licensed nurse registry. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Staffing services: means services provided to a health care facility, school, or other business entity on a temporary or school-year basis pursuant to a written contract by licensed health care personnel and by certified nursing assistants and home health aides who are employed by, or work under the auspices of, a licensed home health agency or who are registered with a licensed nurse registry. See Florida Statutes 400.462
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See Florida Statutes 310.002
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01