Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 65G-14.0042 - Qualified Organization Duties and Responsibilities - Disciplinary Process

(1) Each Qualified Organization must develop, maintain, and enforce a disciplinary process applicable to all Support Coordinators within the organization. Failure to develop, maintain, or enforce a disciplinary process shall constitute grounds for the Agency to deny the application of or take disciplinary action against the Qualified Organization.

(2) The disciplinary process must, at a minimum, include:

(a) Comprehensive review of the violation(s) to determine its impact within the Organization, including its impact on service delivery to clients;

(b) Any Support Coordinator who is responsible for a violation will meet with his or her supervisor to review and address the violation(s), which may include:

1. Discussing factors that led to the violation(s);

2. Discussing whether this is a repeat violation for the Support Coordinator; and

3. Discussing how the violation will be avoided or prevented from recurring, which may include requiring additional training for the Support Coordinator or the development of additional job aides to help the Support Coordinator improve his or her job performance.

(c) Disciplinary action commensurate with the Support Coordinator's violation(s), including consideration of whether it is a repeat violation and its gravity; and

(d) Appropriate follow-up.

(3) The Qualified Organization must make the approved disciplinary process available to all its employed Support Coordinators and must review the disciplinary process to each client or, if applicable, client's legal representative on an annual basis or immediately upon request.

(4) A Qualified Organization's failure to enforce its disciplinary process against a Support Coordinator responsible for a violation(s) constitutes a violation by the Qualified Organization.

(5) Agency Oversight.

(a) Within 10 days of receiving notice from the Regional Office that the Qualified Organization or any of its Support Coordinators violated rules or statutes designated in Rule 65G-14.005, F.A.C., the Qualified Organization must submit to the Agency's Regional Office a proposed Corrective Action Plan that contains all of the following:

1. The actions the Qualified Organization and, if applicable, individual Support Coordinators will take to correct each of the violations identified and to comply with the applicable requirements;

2. The name of the staff person(s) responsible for completing each action; and

3. A timeframe for accomplishing each action.

(b) The Agency will reject any proposed Corrective Action Plan that fails to identify all of the information described in paragraph (5)(a) of this rule or reflects a plan of action that does not address the violation(s). If the Agency rejects a proposed Corrective Action Plan, the Agency shall notify the Qualified Organization in writing of the reasons for rejection and require the Qualified Organization to submit an amended Corrective Action Plan addressing the deficiency or deficiencies within five business days of receipt of the Agency's notice rejecting the Corrective Action Plan.

(c) The Qualified Organization is responsible for ensuring that the Corrective Action Plan is fully implemented within the timeframes designated in the Corrective Action Plan, which includes documenting in writing all action taken to correct a violation.

(d) If the Qualified Organization fails to remediate a violation pertaining to the Qualified Organization or any of its Support Coordinators within the timeframes established in the Corrective Action Plan or the violation reoccurs within the same 12-month period, the Agency may take action against the Qualified Organization as described in Rule 14.005, F.A.C.

(e) Where the violation presents a danger to the health, safety, or welfare of a client(s), the Agency may take immediate action as described in Rule 14.005, F.A.C.

(6) This rule shall be reviewed, and if necessary, renewed through the rulemaking process five years from the effective date.

Notes

Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 65G-14.0042

Rulemaking Authority 393.0662 (7), (15), 393.0663(5), 393.501(1) FS. Law Implemented 393.0662, 393.0663(2), 393.063 FS.

Adopted by Florida Register Volume 47, Number 031, February 16, 2021 effective 7/1/2021.

New 7-1-21.