STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

MARY HARRISON, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 81-2138

) STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ) PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, BOARD OF ) NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATORS, )

)

Respondent. 1/ )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, James E. Bradwell, held a public hearing in this cause on November 17, 1981, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The parties waived the thirty (30) day requirement that a recommended order be entered herein within thirty (30) days after the close of the hearing as required by Rule Chapter 28- 5.402, Florida Administrative Code, and were afforded leave to submit proposed memoranda in support of their respective positions. The parties have submitted proposed memoranda which were considered by me in preparation of this Recommended Order. 2/

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Mary Harrison, pro se

Hospice of Boca Raton, Inc.

500 East Spanish River Boulevard Boca Raton, Florida 33431

For Respondent: Arthur C. Wallberg, Esquire

Assistant Attorney General Department of Legal Affairs The Capitol, Suite 1601 Tallahassee, Florida 32301

ISSUE

Whether or not the Respondent properly denied Petitioner's application for examination as a nursing home administrator.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Based upon my observation of the witnesses and their demeanor while testifying, the documentary evidence received, posthearing memoranda, and the entire record compiled herein, the following relevant facts are found.

2. Petitioner, Mary Harrison, filed an application to sit for the examination as a nursing home administrator on approximately May 28, 1981, based on her belief that she satisfied the prerequisite for examination as required by Rule Chapter 21Z-11.01, Florida Administrative Code. In a cover letter with her application dated May 28, 1981, Petitioner asserted her position that she satisfied the above requirements by stating that she was over 18 years of age; was a high school graduate; had completed two (2) years of college level studies which prepared her for health administration, in that she held a master's degree in public administration (a program designed for administration in the field of human services with a specialty in human resource management) ; was of good moral character and possessed four (4) years experience in nursing home and two and one half (2 1/2) years experience at Hospice in a management/administrative capacity. 3/

   
   

3. Petitioner's application was preliminarily denied by letter dated July 6, 1981, from the Board on the grounds that Petitioner's degree in public administration was not in the field of health care administration as required by Rule 21Z-11.07, Florida Administrative Code, and additionally, that Petitioner's experience "did not appear to demonstrate that for four (4) years (she) had been in a position of control and administration as needed to fulfill the requirements of Rule 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code

   
   

4. Petitioner attended a subsequent Board meeting where her application was considered on July 24, 1981, and she was afforded an opportunity to present a more detailed description of her executive and management responsibilities for its (the Board's) consideration. The Board again denied Petitioner's application, which denial was memorialized in a letter dated July 27, 1981, and cited, as basis for the denial, that Petitioner failed to show that her responsibilities and experience involved the total health services as required by Rule 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code. Petitioner was advised, in that letter, that she may request a hearing which resulted in the instant proceeding before the Division by a letter of transferal from the Board on August 27, 1981.

   
   

5. During the four (4) year period from 1976 through 1980, Petitioner was employed as the Director of Social Services at the Boca Raton Convalescent Center, Boca Raton, Florida. The Center is a nursing home. Petitioner's responsibilities included coordination of admissions and discharges, individual and family counseling, development of social work internship programs with the Florida Atlantic University School of Social Welfare and the training and supervision of social work interns who were involved in the Reality Orientation Program. Petitioner's supervision only included social workers and interns in her department and she was not responsible for employees in other departments of the facility. Petitioner participated in what has been described as a team- management system at the Center. Petitioner's involvement in that system included discussions of various courses of action in the interviewing of employees by a search committee which consists of a group of department heads and the Center's administrator. Petitioner did not sign contracts or purchase orders for any services or supplies; she did not sign checks or make any decisions affecting the employment of the staff at the Center such as hiring, firing, layoff, recall suspension or the imposition of disciplinary sanctions. The accounting decisions for the Center were made at a regional office and the Petitioner's involvement in the accounting decisions consisted primarily of reguesting certain items when a budget proposal was made to the regional office and the placing of certain numbers on forms, which had to conform within the framework of the finalized budget as prepared by the Center's regional office.

6. During the above four (4) year period, Petitioner served as Acting Administrator for the Center for one weekend of every five or six weeks where she was authorized to exercise managerial authority temporarily and primarily in cases of emergencies. In this regard, evidence reveals that the Administrator was, even in these instances, still responsible for the exercise of emergency administrative authority by Petitioner while she served as the Acting Administrator. (Testimony of Petitioner and witnesses Melican, Cohen and Lane.)

   
   

7. To performing her regular duties as nursing home administrator at the Center, Petitioner exercised the management skills and the executive duties of planning, directing, staffing, organizing and controlling only the social services department.

   
   

8. Since early 1980 to present, Petitioner has served as a member of the Board of Directors and a founder of the Florida State Hospice Organization. During her affiliation with the Hospice of Boca Raton, Petitioner performed executive functions for two (2) years at twenty (20) hours per week and one (1) year at thirty-five (35) hours per week. During her affiliation with the Hospice, Petitioner was responsible for and has provided input for the articulation of rules and regulations governing Hospice facilities statewide. Petitioner has also served on resource committees affiliated and/or approved by Respondent for the development of standards to provide and assure quality Hospice care statewide. In the performance of her duties in the Hospice of Boca Raton, Petitioner has exercised management skills and executive duties which include planning, directing, staffing, controlling and organizing that facility.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

9. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties to this action. Chapter 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

   
   

10. The parties were duly noticed pursuant to the notice provisions of Chapter 120, Florida Statutes.

    
    

11. The authority of the Respondent is derived from Chapter 468, Florida Statutes, and Rule 21Z-11, Florida Administrative Code.

    
    

12. The quality of Petitioner's experience, since her affiliation with the Hospice of Boca Raton, fulfills the requirements of Rule Chapter 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code. The extent of this period (chronologically) amounts to two (2) of the four (4) year requirement as set forth in Rule Chapter 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code.

    
    

13. Petitioner's experience as the Director of Social Services, while employed at the Boca Raton Convalescent Center, has not been demonstrated to represent the quality of experience as required by Rule Chapter 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code. This conclusion is based on the Board's determination (definition) that practical experience in a related health administration area means any area of health service requiring the performance and practical application of management skills or executive duties including planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the health services rendered. Petitioner's affiliation with the Hospice satisfies only two (2) of the four (4) year requirement. On the other hand, Petitioner's duties while

    employed at the Convalescent Center has not required the performance or application of management or executive duties as envisioned by Rule 21Z-11.09, Florida Administrative Code. In this regard, Petitioner's duties were shown to be controlled at the regional level with little room for individualized decision-making.

    
    

14. Inasmuch as Petitioner has not demonstrated that she fulfilled or otherwise satisfied the requirements of Chapter 463.1695(2), (3) or (4), Florida Statutes, she is, therefore, not entitled to take the licensing examination in nursing home administration.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is hereby

RECOMMENDED:

That the Respondent, State of Florida, Department of Professional Regulation, Board of Nursing Home Administrators, deny petitioner's application to sit for the licensing examination in nursing home administration.

RECOMMENDED this 1st day of March, 1982, in Tallahassee, Florida.

JAMES E. BRADWELL, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 2nd day of March, 1982.

ENDNOTES

1/ Herein sometimes referred to as the Board.

2/ To the extent that the parties' proposed findings etc. are not incorporated herein, said proposed findings were deemed either immaterial, irrelevant, or not supported by record evidence

3/ The Hospice is a health care facility which has as its objective, to provide comfort, support, security and dignity to terminal patients in a home environment, if at all possible. (Tr. 67)

COPIES FURNISHED:

Mary Harrison

Hospice of Boca Raton, Inc.

500 Fast Spanish River Boulevard Boca Raton, Florida 33431

Arthur C. Wallberg, Esquire Assistant Attorney General Department of Legal Affairs The Capitol, Suite 1601 Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 81-002138

Orders for Case No: 81-002138