Florida DCF to (Finally) Revisit Regulations Governing Treatment Providers

By: Jeffrey Lynne October 9, 2017 1:50 am

Time to read: 5 Minutes

It’s been a long time coming, and perhaps it took an act of the Legislature to make it so, but this morning the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), the entity charged with licensing, regulating and overseeing Florida’s multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol treatment industry, issued a “Notice of Development of Rulemaking” placing the public on notice of its intention to “modify regulatory language to comport with Chapter 2017-173, Laws of Florida, and other current laws and policies related to standards for the provision of substance abuse services.”

We had brought to the attention of the Palm Beach County Sober Home Task Force and made an extensive PowerPoint presentation about how the existing regulations, found within Chapter 65D-30 of the Florida Administrative Code, were overwhelmingly outdated and did not comport with updated ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) criteria. They were written during a time where only non-profits and state-funded agencies delivered treatment services. My, how that paradigm has changed!

While workshops are not a requirement of rulemaking (DCF can unilaterally rewrite the regulations and then take public comment), we would suggest anyone with any medical, social work, recovery housing, or other practical (not anecdotal) experience to take the time to pre-prepare written comments relating to 65D-30 and send them to DCF now, rather than later. This is expected to be a relatively fast-tracked process.

As always, we will endeavor to keep you timely informed. Please feel free to contact DCF or our offices should you have any questions.