Florida Statutes§ 400.147

“Internal risk management and quality assurance program under the public health law”

Every nursing home must establish an internal risk management and quality assurance program in order to: 

• Assess resident care practices;
• Review facility quality indicators, facility incident reports, deficiencies cited by the Agency for Health Care Administration, and resident grievances; and
• Develop plans of action to correct and respond quickly to identified quality deficiencies.

The internal risk management and quality assurance program must include:

• A designated person to serve as risk manager, who is responsible for implementation and oversight of the facility's risk management and quality assurance program.
• A risk management and quality assurance committee consisting of the facility risk manager, the administrator, the director of nursing, the medical director, and at least three other members of the facility staff.
• Policies and procedures to implement the internal risk management and quality assurance program, which must include the investigation and analysis of the frequency and causes of general categories and specific types of adverse incidents to residents.
• The development and implementation of an incident reporting system based upon the affirmative duty of all health care providers and all agents and employees of the licensed health care facility to report adverse incidents to the risk manager, or to his or her designee, within 3 business days after their occurrence.
• The development of appropriate measures to minimize the risk of adverse incidents to residents, including, but not limited to, education and training in risk management and risk prevention for all nonphysician personnel.
• The analysis of resident grievances that relate to resident care and the quality of clinical services.