STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION,

Petitioner,

vs.

MORRIS L. WEINMAN, D.M.D.,

Respondent.

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) Case No. 02-1587

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RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), by its designated Administrative Law Judge, Florence Snyder Rivas, conducted a formal hearing in the referenced case on July 16, 2002, in Boca Raton, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Nelson E. Rodney, Esquire

Agency for Health Care Administration 8355 Northwest 53rd Street

Miami, Florida 33166

For Respondent: Morris L. Weinman, D.M.D., pro se 13850 Via Tivoli

Delray Beach, Florida 33446-3743 STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

The issue is whether Petitioner acted improperly in declining to license Respondent as a Health Care Risk Manager.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

By letter dated January 11, 2002, Petitioner, Agency for Health Care Administration (Petitioner or AHCA) notified Respondent, Morris L. Weinman, D.M.D. (Respondent or Weinman) that he did not meet statutory criteria for licensure as a Health Care Risk Manager, and therefore denied his license application. Respondent timely asserted his right to an administrative hearing.

At hearing, Petitioner presented the testimony of John Ter Louw, and introduced Exhibits 1-12. Respondent testified in his own behalf and introduced Exhibits 1-6.

A one-volume transcript of the proceedings was filed with DOAH on July 30, 2002. Thereafter the parties made timely post- hearing written submissions which have been carefully considered in the preparation of this Recommended Order.

Throughout this Recommended Order, references to statutes or sections refer to the Florida Statutes, and references to the rule(s) are to the Florida Administrative Code.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Morris L. Weinman, D.M.D., was first licensed by the state as a Health Care Risk Manager in 1993. Previously, he had worked for the military in hospital-based risk management.

2. Florida is the only state in the union which licenses health care risk managers.

3. At all times material to this case, health care risk managers were required to be relicensed every two years. Weinman was uneventfully relicensed in 1995, 1997, and 1999.

4. At the time Weinman was first licensed, the Department of Insurance (DOI) was in charge of licensing health care risk managers. By 2001, when Weinman was due to renew his license, AHCA had taken over that function.

5. It was routine practice at DOI and later at AHCA that staff assigned to relicensing of health care risk managers would send renewal notices to licensees at their last address on file. This was done as a courtesy to licensees and was not required by law. Rather, it is the licensees' responsibility to assure that the licensing authority has a current address, and, more importantly, to take whatever steps may be necessary to assure that he or she is properly licensed at all times.

6. For reasons unknown and unknowable, the renewal paperwork sent by AHCA in 2001 was not received by Weinman. Weinman had no tickler system or other type of back-up in place to remind him that it was time to renew his license.

7. Thus, Weinman's license expired on January 31, 2001.

   
   

   In order to be licensed again, it was now necessary for him to submit an application as if for the first time, and to qualify under the legal requirements then in place.

8. Weinman submitted an application which was received by Petitioner on September 25, 2001.

9. On November 20, 2001, Petitioner rejected the application because Weinman had failed to document his claim that he had fulfilled educational requirements upon which licensure may be based.

10. Weinman responded to the denial with an affidavit in which he swore to what he believed were qualifications sufficient to warrant licensure.

11. Weinman's belief was incorrect. The affidavit was insufficient as a matter of law to remedy the defects in his 2001 application, and AHCA therefore again denied the application.

12. At all times material to his September 25, 2001, application, Weinman did not hold any of the combined educational and professional credentials recognized by the state as sufficient to qualify an individual to be licensed as a health care risk manager.

    CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

    
    

13. DOAH has jurisdiction of the parties to and subject matter of this proceeding, pursuant to Section 120.57 (1).

14. AHCA is the state agency authorized to license and discipline health care risk managers pursuant to Chapter 395.1097 and Rule 59A-10.

15. It is Weinman's burden to demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence his entitlement to be licensed as a health care risk manager. This he has failed to do.

16. AHCA accepts various combinations of professional experience and education, all set forth in Rule 59A-1033, in defining eligibility for licensure as a health care risk manager. Weinman believes that his licensure as a dentist and his experience in risk management while serving in the military justifies, indeed compels, that he be granted a license. But this combination of professional and educational experience does not fulfill Florida's licensure criteria.

17. The evidence establishes only that Weinman disagrees with the state's licensing criteria, not that it was erroneously applied. His remedy lies with the Legislature, not this forum.

RECOMMENDATION

Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Weinman's application for licensure should be denied without prejudice to reapply at such time as he is able to fulfill the licensing criteria then in effect.

DONE AND ENTERED this 13th day of September, 2002, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

FLORENCE SNYDER RIVAS

Administrative Law Judge

Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060

(850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675

Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 13th day of September, 2002.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Nelson Rodney, Esquire

Agency for Health Care Administration 8355 Northwest 53rd Street

Miami, Florida 33166

Morris L. Weinman, D.M.D. 13850 Via Tivoli

Delray Beach, Florida 33446-3743

Lealand McCharen, Agency Clerk Agency for Health Care Administration 2727 Mahan Drive, Mail Stop 3

Tallahassee, Florida 32308

Valda Clark Christian, Acting General Counsel Agency for Health Care Administration

2727 Mahan Drive, Suite 3431

Tallahassee, Florida 32308

Rhonda M. Medows, M.D., Secretary Agency for Health Care Administration 2727 Mahan Drive, Suite 3116

Tallahassee, Florida 32308

NOTICE OF RIGHT TO SUBMIT EXCEPTIONS

All parties have the right to submit written exceptions within

15 days from the date of this Recommended Order. Any exceptions to this Recommended Order should be filed with the agency that will issue the Final Order in this case.

Docket for Case No: 02-001587

Orders for Case No: 02-001587